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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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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. wind — moving air
  4. bat — the animal
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. net — after costs
  7. perch — the fish
  8. last — final
  9. wind — moving air
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. last — finally
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. net — in sport
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. last — to go on

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