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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 to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. spring — a coil
  5. season — of the year
  6. spell — letters
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. spring — the season
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. spring — of water
  11. root — of a plant
  12. perch — the fish
  13. capital — a city
  14. content — the amount
  15. spell — magic
  16. content — happy
  17. spell — a short time
  18. root — the cause
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. root — of a word
  21. season — in sport
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. dip — to sink
  24. capital — money

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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