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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. land — ground
  4. face — to point toward
  5. stock — shares
  6. land — a country
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. face — part of the head
  10. perch — the fish
  11. branch — a division
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. squash — the sport
  15. land — to come down
  16. face — to confront
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. squash — to crush
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. stock — goods
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pit — a hole
  24. pit — in a race

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