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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. shower — to wash
  4. field — for sport
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — a short time
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. field — a subject
  10. spell — magic
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. perch — the fish
  14. field — farmland
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. game — wild animals

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