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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. kid — child
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. cold — not warm
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. shower — rain
  11. cold — an illness
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. spring — of water
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. perch — the fish
  18. kid — to tease
  19. shower — to wash
  20. pitch — completely
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. branch — a division
  24. perch — for a bird

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