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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. kid — child
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. rest — a break
  5. spell — a short time
  6. drill — army training
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rest — what's left
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fall — to drop
  13. rule — government
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. spell — magic
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. drill — a practice
  18. kid — to tease
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. rest — what's left
  21. spell — letters
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. drill — the tool
  24. rule — a law

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