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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. perch — the fish
  3. hand — help
  4. race — humankind
  5. race — a contest
  6. cap — a lid
  7. row — to paddle
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. race — the arms race
  11. row — a line
  12. cap — of ice
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — to drop
  15. hand — in cards
  16. fall — the season
  17. cap — a hat
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. key — for a lock
  22. key — in music
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. row — a quarrel

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