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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. tear — from crying
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. row — to paddle
  5. cold — an illness
  6. firm — steady
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — a line
  10. firm — a company
  11. firm — decided
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. tear — to rip
  14. prune — to trim
  15. rash — a series
  16. perch — the fish
  17. prune — to trim
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. tear — from crying
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. rash — hasty
  24. wake — a trail

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