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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. rash — a series
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. drill — the tool
  5. march — the month
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. march — the month
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. march — music
  12. perch — the fish
  13. cold — an illness
  14. snap — to click
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. drill — army training
  18. drill — a practice

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com