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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. perch — the fish
  4. pit — a hole
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. hand — help
  7. fork — in a road
  8. pit — in a race
  9. last — finally
  10. deal — to handle
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. deal — a big deal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. last — final
  19. cold — an illness
  20. last — to go on
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cold — not warm
  24. perch — for a bird

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