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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.

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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 · fall · spell · perch · race · land · straw · wound

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — the fish
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. spell — a short time
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — a country
  8. fall — to drop
  9. face — part of the head
  10. race — the arms race
  11. face — to confront
  12. fall — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. spell — letters
  15. wound — an injury
  16. face — to point toward
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. race — humankind
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. race — a contest
  22. spell — magic
  23. wound — an injury
  24. land — ground

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