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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. march — music
  7. scale — size or range
  8. cold — an illness
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. march — the month
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. march — the month
  13. degree — an amount
  14. perch — the fish
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. cap — a lid
  17. scale — in music
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cap — of ice
  21. pass — a permit
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. degree — temperature

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