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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
468
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: hide · bat · perch · drill · stem · hand · can · cold

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. drill — a practice
  6. bat — the animal
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. perch — the fish
  10. hand — help
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. drill — army training
  13. can — to be able to
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. can — a tin
  16. hand — in cards
  17. stem — to come from
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. drill — the tool
  22. cold — an illness
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. can — a tin

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