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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. cold — an illness
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. bass — the fish
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. drill — the tool
  8. perch — the fish
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bass — low music
  11. cold — not warm
  12. snap — to click
  13. deal — to handle
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. drill — army training
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. mark — a trace
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — to wash
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mark — a grade

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