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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. cap — of ice
  4. current — of water
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pitch — completely
  12. degree — an amount
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. current — electric
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. cap — a hat
  20. cap — a lid
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. current — happening now

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