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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. cold — an illness
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. cold — not warm
  8. board — to get on
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. file — a tool
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. stock — goods
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. file — a line of people
  16. rule — government
  17. perch — the fish
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. rule — a law
  20. file — a document
  21. stock — shares
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. board — a committee

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