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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. perch — the fish
  4. tear — to rip
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — an illness
  8. band — a music group
  9. march — the month
  10. rash — hasty
  11. march — music
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. march — the month
  14. band — a ring
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. rash — a series
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — not warm
  24. mouse — for a computer

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