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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: ball · game · perch · row · straw · cold · fan · track

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. row — to paddle
  8. ball — a great time
  9. row — a line
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. ball — a dance
  14. game — a match
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. track — a path
  18. cold — not warm
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. perch — the fish
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. track — a song
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cold — an illness

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