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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. root — of a plant
  3. root — of a word
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. file — a document
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. chest — of your body
  9. chair — a leader
  10. rock — music
  11. perch — the fish
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. root — the cause
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rush — hurry
  22. rock — a stone
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. file — a tool

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