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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: kid · cold · hide · root · perch · fine · hand · staff

  1. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. hand — help
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. root — of a plant
  7. staff — employees
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. fine — all right
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. fine — high quality
  12. kid — to tease
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. perch — the fish
  19. staff — employees
  20. root — the cause
  21. kid — child
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. staff — a stick
  24. root — of a word

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