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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. sharp — clever
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. hand — in cards
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. bark — to shout
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. perch — the fish
  14. cold — an illness
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. cold — not warm
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. hand — help
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. snap — to click
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. cold — the Cold War

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