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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. perch — the fish
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. ground — the earth
  8. cold — an illness
  9. sharp — clever
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. saw — the tool
  14. saw — the tool
  15. lean — thin
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — not warm
  18. ground — crushed
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. cell — a phone
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. lean — to bend

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