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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. root — of a word
  3. staff — employees
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. perch — the fish
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. staff — employees
  8. track — a song
  9. cold — not warm
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. stock — goods
  13. root — of a plant
  14. net — in sport
  15. cold — an illness
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. root — the cause
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. net — for catching
  21. net — after costs
  22. staff — a stick
  23. stock — shares
  24. track — a path

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