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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. fall — the season
  3. current — happening now
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. current — of water
  6. spring — the season
  7. shower — rain
  8. cold — not warm
  9. shower — to wash
  10. current — electric
  11. cold — an illness
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. fall — to drop
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. pound — a weight
  19. spring — of water
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spring — a coil
  23. deal — to handle
  24. perch — for a bird

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