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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. drill — army training
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. spell — letters
  5. safe — a strongbox
  6. content — happy
  7. pit — a hole
  8. drill — a practice
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. spell — a short time
  12. content — the amount
  13. pit — in a race
  14. scale — size or range
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness
  19. drill — the tool
  20. scale — in music
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spell — magic
  24. safe — out of danger

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