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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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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: cabinet · perch · spring · mate · chest · kick · cold · land

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  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. kick — in football
  2. mate — to breed
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. spring — a coil
  6. cold — not warm
  7. spring — the season
  8. perch — the fish
  9. mate — a friend
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. mate — a partner
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. land — to come down
  15. land — ground
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. land — a country
  19. spring — of water
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. chest — of your body
  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