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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: plane · hide · pop · degree · deal · perch · cold · field

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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 — for a bird
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. field — a subject
  4. pop — to visit
  5. degree — temperature
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. deal — to handle
  8. cold — an illness
  9. field — farmland
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. degree — from a university
  14. pop — soda
  15. degree — an amount
  16. pop — music
  17. perch — the fish
  18. plane — a tool
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. field — for sport
  23. cold — not warm
  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