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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cold — an illness
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. spell — a short time
  6. content — happy
  7. perch — the fish
  8. content — the amount
  9. last — final
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. last — finally
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. roll — a cake
  14. sharp — clever
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. spell — letters
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. roll — a list
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spell — magic
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. last — to go on
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. coach — a trainer

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