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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.

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: rush · net · last · land · march · perch · cold · root

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. perch — the fish
  3. root — of a word
  4. net — for catching
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. land — to come down
  8. cold — not warm
  9. march — the month
  10. root — the cause
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. land — ground
  13. land — a country
  14. net — after costs
  15. rush — hurry
  16. last — to go on
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. last — finally
  19. cold — an illness
  20. root — of a plant
  21. net — in sport
  22. march — music
  23. last — final
  24. march — the month

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