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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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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: date · net · march · perch · straw · wave · cold · root

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. root — of a word
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. cold — an illness
  6. net — for catching
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. march — music
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wave — with your hand
  12. net — after costs
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. root — of a plant
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. root — the cause
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. perch — the fish
  21. march — the month
  22. date — the fruit
  23. march — the month
  24. net — in 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