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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. snap — to click
  3. lean — to bend
  4. root — of a plant
  5. lean — thin
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. cold — an illness
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. root — of a word
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. root — the cause
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. cold — not warm
  20. perch — the fish
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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