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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 120 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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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: foot · cold · march · bat · wind · perch · craft · land

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. march — the month
  4. land — to come down
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. foot — a measure
  7. march — the month
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. cold — not warm
  10. march — music
  11. land — ground
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wind — moving air
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. perch — the fish
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. wind — moving air
  20. craft — boats
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. craft — a skill
  24. cold — the Cold War

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