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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 water is too ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spell — magic
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. net — in sport
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. spell — a short time
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. net — after costs
  13. net — for catching
  14. perch — the fish
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — the animal
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. spell — letters

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