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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. ground — a position
  3. degree — temperature
  4. chest — of your body
  5. degree — an amount
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. chip — to eat
  8. cap — a hat
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. fall — the season
  11. ground — crushed
  12. cap — of ice
  13. chest — of your body
  14. fall — to drop
  15. chest — a box
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. degree — from a university
  18. chip — for betting
  19. cap — a lid
  20. fall — to drop
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. ground — the earth
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. perch — for a bird

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