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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. net — in sport
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. mine — for digging
  6. net — after costs
  7. cell — a phone
  8. wake — a trail
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. stock — shares
  15. cell — in biology
  16. staff — employees
  17. staff — employees
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. stock — goods
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. net — for catching
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. staff — a stick
  24. wake — before a funeral

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