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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 120 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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hand — in cards
  6. lean — to bend
  7. land — to come down
  8. land — ground
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. cold — not warm
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — from a university
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. land — a country
  17. lean — thin
  18. perch — the fish
  19. hand — help
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. kid — child
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. degree — temperature

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