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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cold — not warm
  6. last — finally
  7. cue — a hint
  8. track — a path
  9. track — to keep track
  10. swing — in golf
  11. track — a song
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. press — newspapers
  15. cold — an illness
  16. perch — the fish
  17. swing — music
  18. cue — for pool
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. last — to go on
  21. cue — a signal
  22. swing — to play on
  23. press — a publisher
  24. press — to push

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