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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. pop — to visit
  3. face — to confront
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. pop — music
  7. face — to point toward
  8. bat — the animal
  9. degree — an amount
  10. net — for catching
  11. saw — the tool
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. pop — soda
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — a trail
  19. face — part of the head
  20. perch — the fish
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. net — in sport
  23. net — after costs
  24. saw — the tool

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