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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bound — obliged
  7. spell — letters
  8. wake — a trail
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. snap — to click
  11. spell — magic
  12. pop — to visit
  13. spell — a short time
  14. cold — not warm
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. ball — a great time
  17. bound — tied together
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. bound — certain
  20. pop — soda
  21. pop — music
  22. ball — a dance
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. ball — a round shape

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