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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mate — a partner
  7. plane — a tool
  8. calf — of the leg
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. drill — army training
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. cold — an illness
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. mate — a friend
  16. chair — a leader
  17. drill — the tool
  18. mate — to breed
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. drill — a practice
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. calf — a young animal

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