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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. band — a ring
  7. perch — the fish
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. spell — magic
  11. spell — letters
  12. land — to come down
  13. ball — a dance
  14. cold — an illness
  15. band — a music group
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. land — a country
  18. ball — a great time
  19. wave — with your hand
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. spell — a short time
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. branch — a division

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