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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 coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — in golf
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. perch — the fish
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. stem — to come from
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. swing — music
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — an illness
  15. field — a subject
  16. swing — to play on
  17. cold — not warm
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. shower — rain
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. field — farmland
  23. shower — to wash
  24. stem — a stem cell

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