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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. spring — of water
  3. band — a ring
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. mug — a cup
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. perch — the fish
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. spring — a coil
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. mug — to rob
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. spring — the season
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. band — a music group
  24. mug — a face

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