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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. spring — a coil
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. perch — the fish
  6. stand — to bear
  7. tear — to rip
  8. degree — from a university
  9. tear — from crying
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. spring — the season
  13. degree — an amount
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. stand — on your feet
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. snap — to click
  18. wind — moving air
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — temperature
  23. wind — moving air
  24. stand — for spectators

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