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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: hand · bark · tear · cold · perch · snap · temple · swing

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. perch — the fish
  4. swing — music
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. tear — from crying
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. swing — in golf
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. cold — not warm
  12. hand — help
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. hand — in cards
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. bark — to shout
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. tear — to rip
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — to play on
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. tear — from crying

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