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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. snap — to click
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. pitch — completely
  8. shower — to wash
  9. file — a tool
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. bear — the animal
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cold — an illness
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. file — a line of people
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. file — a document
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. bear — the animal
  22. cold — not warm
  23. shower — rain
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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