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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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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. spell — letters
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. drill — army training
  5. file — a tool
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. object — to protest
  8. rest — what's left
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. drill — a practice
  12. perch — the fish
  13. drill — the tool
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. object — an aim
  16. file — a line of people
  17. bat — the animal
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. object — a thing
  20. file — a document
  21. spell — a short time
  22. rest — a break
  23. rest — what's left
  24. spell — magic

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