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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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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: face · saw · race · perch · rash · cold · pound · cap

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. cap — of ice
  4. pound — a weight
  5. face — to point toward
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cap — a lid
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. perch — the fish
  11. race — the arms race
  12. saw — the tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. face — to confront
  17. saw — the tool
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. face — part of the head
  21. rash — hasty
  22. race — humankind
  23. rash — a series
  24. rash — on the skin

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