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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.

Make a worksheet

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: row · mine · cold · march · spring · perch · date · roll

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. cold — an illness
  9. march — the month
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — the season
  12. march — music
  13. roll — a list
  14. row — to paddle
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. roll — a cake
  17. march — the month
  18. date — the fruit
  19. spring — of water
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. row — a line
  23. perch — the fish
  24. mine — belonging to me

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