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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. season — in sport
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. present — a gift
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. tube — the underground
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — an illness
  18. degree — temperature
  19. wake — a trail
  20. tube — a container
  21. degree — from a university
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. season — of the year

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