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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. staff — a stick
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. hand — help
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. hand — in cards
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. rock — a stone
  13. band — a ring
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — to tease
  16. staff — employees
  17. kid — child
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. band — a music group
  20. toast — bread
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. staff — employees

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