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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. ground — a position
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. pound — a weight
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a ring
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. last — to go on
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. band — a music group
  15. kid — child
  16. perch — the fish
  17. kid — to tease
  18. last — final
  19. last — finally
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ground — crushed
  24. cold — not warm

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