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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bark — to shout
  6. rock — music
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. drill — army training
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. drill — the tool
  20. dip — to sink
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. rock — a stone
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. drill — a practice

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