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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. squash — to crush
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — a box
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. drill — army training
  9. degree — temperature
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. drill — the tool
  12. content — happy
  13. degree — from a university
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. degree — an amount
  16. wake — a trail
  17. lean — thin
  18. squash — the sport
  19. drill — a practice
  20. lean — to bend
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. content — the amount

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