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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: capital · spring · chest · snap · chair · row · perch · hide

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. row — a line
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. chair — a leader
  6. spring — the season
  7. capital — money
  8. spring — of water
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. snap — to click
  13. row — to paddle
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. perch — the fish
  18. chest — of your body
  19. capital — a city
  20. chest — a box
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. spring — a coil
  24. chest — of your body

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