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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 120 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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. cold — not warm
  6. plane — a tool
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. wake — a trail
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. row — a line
  15. perch — the fish
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. pit — a hole
  18. bat — the animal
  19. row — to paddle
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pit — in a race
  24. plane — an aircraft

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