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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. scale — size or range
  6. race — a contest
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. race — the arms race
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. capital — a city
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. perch — the fish
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. wake — a trail
  21. race — humankind
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. capital — money
  24. scale — in music

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