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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. bass — the fish
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bass — low music
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. prune — to trim
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. perch — the fish
  13. cold — not warm
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. stem — to come from
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. file — a document
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a tool
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bass — the instrument

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