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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: root · rash · perch · spring · cell · chair · march · present

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. march — the month
  4. root — of a plant
  5. spring — the season
  6. present — there
  7. chair — a leader
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. cell — a phone
  10. root — of a word
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. spring — of water
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. root — the cause
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. present — a gift
  17. perch — the fish
  18. spring — a coil
  19. present — the time now
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rash — a series

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