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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The tickets are free of ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. capital — a city
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. charge — a price
  6. perch — the fish
  7. fine — all right
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. season — of the year
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. fine — high quality
  15. cold — not warm
  16. charge — in control
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. charge — electricity
  19. roll — a list
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. season — in sport
  22. cold — an illness
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. capital — money

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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