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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 walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — not warm
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — humankind
  9. perch — the fish
  10. cold — an illness
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bear — the animal
  13. file — a tool
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. race — the arms race
  16. bear — the animal
  17. sharp — clever
  18. file — a document

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