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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.

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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: wake · race · land · scale · branch · squash · cold · perch

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. wake — a trail
  3. squash — to crush
  4. perch — the fish
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. land — a country
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. land — to come down
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. race — the arms race
  15. branch — a division
  16. scale — in music
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. scale — size or range
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — humankind
  22. land — ground
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. squash — the sport

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