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

Word bank: staff · mate · ground · kid · fall · perch · last · cold

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mate — a partner
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — a position
  6. last — to go on
  7. kid — to tease
  8. mate — to breed
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. fall — to drop
  11. staff — a stick
  12. ground — the earth
  13. cold — an illness
  14. staff — employees
  15. last — finally
  16. kid — child
  17. fall — the season
  18. mate — a friend
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. staff — employees
  21. fall — to drop
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. last — final
  24. perch — for a bird

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