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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. drill — army training
  3. perch — the fish
  4. content — the amount
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. content — happy
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. saw — the tool
  10. drill — the tool
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. court — of a king
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. cold — not warm
  15. branch — a division
  16. drill — a practice
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. rash — hasty
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. court — of law
  23. court — for sport
  24. rash — a series

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