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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. wake — a trail
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. swing — to play on
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. shower — to wash
  9. mine — for digging
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. swing — in golf
  12. perch — the fish
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cold — not warm
  19. ball — a dance
  20. stock — goods
  21. shower — rain
  22. stock — shares
  23. swing — music
  24. wake — before a funeral

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