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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. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. jam — in traffic
  3. last — final
  4. perch — the fish
  5. last — finally
  6. march — the month
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stock — goods
  9. march — music
  10. file — a tool
  11. march — the month
  12. last — to go on
  13. squash — to crush
  14. degree — from a university
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. squash — the sport
  20. degree — temperature
  21. file — a document
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. file — a line of people
  24. stock — shares

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