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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 water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mug — to rob
  4. ground — a position
  5. mug — a cup
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. bat — the animal
  8. saw — the tool
  9. mug — a face
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. perch — the fish
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. chest — a box
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cold — an illness
  18. ground — the earth
  19. ground — crushed
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. hide — to keep secret

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