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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 116 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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. chair — to sit on
  2. current — electric
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. shower — rain
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cold — not warm
  11. perch — the fish
  12. chair — a leader
  13. current — of water
  14. current — happening now
  15. shower — to wash
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — a country
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. land — ground
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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