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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. spring — a coil
  3. spring — the season
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. squash — to crush
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mate — a partner
  11. cold — not warm
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. spring — of water
  14. mate — to breed
  15. degree — an amount
  16. prune — to trim
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. squash — the sport
  19. perch — the fish
  20. degree — temperature
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. cold — an illness
  23. mate — a friend
  24. degree — from a university

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