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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 124 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. mate — a partner
  3. staff — a stick
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. cold — not warm
  7. net — in sport
  8. net — for catching
  9. spell — a short time
  10. mate — a friend
  11. net — after costs
  12. perch — the fish
  13. mate — to breed
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. staff — employees
  17. cold — an illness
  18. board — a committee
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. staff — employees
  22. board — to get on
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. spell — magic

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