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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. last — final
  4. root — of a plant
  5. object — an aim
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — not warm
  10. drill — army training
  11. object — to protest
  12. cold — an illness
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. drill — a practice
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tear — to rip
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. tear — from crying
  19. root — of a word
  20. perch — the fish
  21. tear — from crying
  22. object — a thing
  23. drill — the tool
  24. root — the cause

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