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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 116 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 ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. mine — for digging
  3. rest — a break
  4. perch — the fish
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. band — a ring
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. ball — a great time
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. band — a music group
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. ball — a dance
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rest — what's left

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