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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  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. scale — size or range
  2. perch — the fish
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. bore — to tire
  5. bore — to drill
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. cold — not warm
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. file — a line of people
  11. chair — a leader
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. scale — in music
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. mine — for digging
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. chair — to sit on
  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