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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. current — happening now
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. rule — government
  8. hand — in cards
  9. hand — help
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. cold — not warm
  13. rule — a law
  14. current — of water
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. sharp — clever
  17. current — electric
  18. perch — the fish

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