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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bat — the animal
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cue — a signal
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cue — for pool
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. cell — a phone
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cue — a hint
  13. prune — to trim
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cell — in biology
  18. sharp — clever
  19. cold — an illness
  20. perch — the fish
  21. fork — in a road
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. fork — a garden tool

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