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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. scale — in music
  5. perch — the fish
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cap — a hat
  9. cap — a lid
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. spell — magic
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. spell — a short time
  16. spell — letters
  17. fine — high quality
  18. cap — of ice
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. scale — size or range
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. snap — to click
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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