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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Where did you ________________ them?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. cold — not warm
  3. last — final
  4. pit — in a race
  5. perch — the fish
  6. mug — to rob
  7. spell — a short time
  8. stock — shares
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mug — a face
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. last — finally
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. pit — a hole
  17. stock — goods
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spell — letters
  20. mug — a cup
  21. last — to go on
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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