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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. drill — a practice
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. content — happy
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. net — after costs
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. content — the amount
  12. stem — to come from
  13. net — in sport
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. net — for catching
  16. drill — the tool
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. perch — the fish
  22. drill — army training
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — the 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