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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. cold — not warm
  3. kid — child
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pitch — completely
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — an illness
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. pop — to visit
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. perch — the fish
  13. kid — to tease
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. pop — music
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. pitch — a sports field

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