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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. cold — not warm
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. sharp — clever
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. row — a line
  10. row — to paddle
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. cold — an illness
  15. file — a document
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. bass — the fish
  22. rock — a stone
  23. perch — the fish
  24. cabinet — ministers

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