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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: wake · mate · perch · cold · scale · shower · branch · sharp

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. mate — a friend
  3. mate — a partner
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. sharp — clever
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. scale — size or range
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. wake — a trail
  14. branch — a division
  15. shower — to wash
  16. mate — to breed
  17. cold — an illness
  18. cold — not warm
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. perch — the fish
  22. shower — rain
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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