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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rash — hasty
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. rash — a series
  5. last — to go on
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. leaves — of a tree
  8. last — final
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. perch — the fish
  12. degree — from a university
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. spell — magic
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. last — finally
  20. spell — letters
  21. kid — child
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. spell — a short time
  24. degree — an 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