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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. stock — goods
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. wake — a trail
  7. ground — crushed
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. pitch — completely
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. stock — shares
  17. perch — the fish
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. ground — the earth
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. ground — a position
  24. perch — for a bird

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