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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. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. wound — an injury
  10. capital — money
  11. wound — an injury
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. pound — a weight
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. lie — to recline
  20. game — a match
  21. game — wild animals
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. spring — a coil

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