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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: swing · wave · perch · cold · land · mine · lean · last

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. swing — music
  5. swing — to play on
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. land — ground
  9. mine — for digging
  10. perch — the fish
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. last — final
  13. lean — thin
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. land — to come down
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. land — a country
  18. last — to go on
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — an illness
  21. lean — to bend
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — not warm
  24. last — finally

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