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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom 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. chair — a leader
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. cold — an illness
  6. kick — in football
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. perch — the fish
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. spring — a coil
  13. mark — a grade
  14. bat — the animal
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wax — to grow
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. spring — of water
  22. mark — a trace
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. spring — the season

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