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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. perch — the fish
  3. can — to be able to
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. kid — to tease
  6. mate — to breed
  7. last — final
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. last — finally
  10. mate — a partner
  11. cell — in biology
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cell — a phone
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. can — a tin
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. mate — a friend
  20. last — to go on
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. kid — child
  24. game — a match

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