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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. chair — a leader
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. lean — to bend
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. lean — thin
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. hand — in cards
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. hand — help
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wake — a trail
  24. cold — an illness

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