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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. last — finally
  5. face — to point toward
  6. cold — an illness
  7. plane — a tool
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. present — a gift
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. present — the time now
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. cold — not warm
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. branch — a division
  17. last — final
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. face — to confront
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. present — there
  23. last — to go on
  24. face — part of the head

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