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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: spring · snap · content · rock · perch · cold · racket · root

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. perch — the fish
  3. spring — a coil
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. root — of a plant
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. rock — music
  8. spring — the season
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. content — happy
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. root — of a word
  15. root — the cause
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. content — the amount
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. snap — to click
  22. spring — of water
  23. rock — a stone
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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