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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wax — to grow
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. court — of law
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. degree — an amount
  7. perch — the fish
  8. saw — the tool
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cap — a hat
  11. degree — from a university
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. cold — not warm
  14. saw — the tool
  15. court — for sport
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. kick — in football
  20. cap — a lid
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. court — of a king

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