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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. wound — an injury
  3. degree — an amount
  4. land — a country
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — ground
  7. degree — temperature
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. band — a ring
  10. degree — from a university
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — for digging
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. kick — in football
  21. band — a music group
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. wound — an injury
  24. mine — an explosive

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