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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 124 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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. stock — shares
  5. lean — to bend
  6. cell — in biology
  7. cold — not warm
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cell — a phone
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. lean — thin
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. stock — goods
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. perch — the fish
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — to dunk

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