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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 124 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bound — obliged
  12. press — a publisher
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. mark — a trace
  15. bound — certain
  16. press — newspapers
  17. perch — the fish
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bound — tied together
  21. press — to push
  22. mark — a grade
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. patient — a sick person

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