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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stem — to come from
  4. land — a country
  5. club — for dancing
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. scale — in music
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. lean — to bend
  10. scale — size or range
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. perch — the fish
  13. land — to come down
  14. club — for golf
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — an illness
  18. club — a group
  19. lean — thin
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. land — ground
  22. saw — the tool
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. saw — the tool

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