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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. rash — a series
  3. degree — an amount
  4. face — part of the head
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. cell — a phone
  12. degree — from a university
  13. rash — hasty
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. face — to confront
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. wake — a trail
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. face — to point toward
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cell — in biology
  24. degree — temperature

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