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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 116 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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a match
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — not warm
  5. scale — in music
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. stock — goods
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — the sport
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. march — music
  14. march — the month
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. scale — size or range
  19. perch — the fish
  20. squash — to crush
  21. cold — an illness
  22. march — the month
  23. stock — shares
  24. nail — for a hammer

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