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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. perch — the fish
  3. march — the month
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. cold — not warm
  6. capital — money
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. cold — an illness
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. march — music
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. branch — a division
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. rash — hasty
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. roll — a cake
  21. march — the month
  22. roll — a list
  23. rash — a series
  24. capital — a city

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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