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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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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. key — the most important part
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. cold — not warm
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. spell — a short time
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. key — in music
  10. bass — low music
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — to shout
  13. roll — a cake
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. bass — the fish
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. key — for a lock
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. cold — an illness
  20. roll — a list
  21. perch — the fish
  22. spell — magic
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bass — the instrument

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