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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. present — a gift
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mark — a trace
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bat — the animal
  9. perch — the fish
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. last — finally
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bark — to shout
  14. last — to go on
  15. present — the time now
  16. mine — for digging
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. last — final
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. present — there
  24. cold — the Cold War

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