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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. I can't ________________ this cold.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. tear — to rip
  3. perch — the fish
  4. hand — help
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. dip — to sink
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bat — the animal
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. snap — to click
  18. scale — in music
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. stand — to bear
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. tear — from crying
  24. scale — size or range

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