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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wind — moving air
  3. land — to come down
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. lie — to recline
  11. wind — moving air
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. kick — in football
  16. branch — a division
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. land — a country
  20. land — ground
  21. perch — the fish
  22. bat — the animal
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. hide — to keep secret

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