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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. My mare is ________________ in color.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. bay — a horse colour
  5. wake — a trail
  6. perch — the fish
  7. bat — the animal
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. content — happy
  16. content — the amount
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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