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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. cold — not warm
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. object — an aim
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spell — a short time
  9. perch — the fish
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. spell — letters
  14. object — a thing
  15. object — to protest
  16. plane — a tool
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. row — a line
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stem — to come from
  23. row — to paddle
  24. stem — of a plant

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