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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. lean — to bend
  7. object — to protest
  8. kid — child
  9. object — an aim
  10. capital — a city
  11. lean — thin
  12. capital — money
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. mine — for digging
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. object — a thing
  21. wax — to grow
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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