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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. shower — to wash
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. rash — hasty
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. shower — rain
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. sharp — clever
  17. lie — to recline
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. rash — a series
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. march — the month
  23. perch — the fish
  24. mouse — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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