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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. drill — a practice
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. degree — from a university
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. drill — army training
  9. drill — the tool
  10. cap — a lid
  11. game — a match
  12. cap — of ice
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — temperature
  16. cap — a hat
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. cold — an illness
  23. degree — an amount
  24. nail — on a finger

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