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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. mark — a trace
  8. cold — an illness
  9. capital — a city
  10. perch — the fish
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. capital — money
  15. track — to keep track
  16. sharp — clever
  17. track — a song
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. cold — not warm
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. mark — a grade
  23. wax — to grow
  24. snap — to click

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