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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. pass — a permit
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rule — government
  5. court — of a king
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. spell — a short time
  9. last — final
  10. court — for sport
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. court — of law
  13. last — finally
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pass — to succeed
  20. rule — a law
  21. spell — letters
  22. spell — magic
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. last — to go on

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