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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bound — tied together
  3. degree — an amount
  4. cold — an illness
  5. perch — the fish
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. tear — to rip
  8. cell — in biology
  9. cold — not warm
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cell — a phone
  12. degree — from a university
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. lean — to bend
  15. tear — from crying
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. bound — certain
  18. tear — from crying
  19. lean — thin
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. bound — obliged
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. cell — in a prison

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