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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. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. net — after costs
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. bark — to shout
  5. hand — help
  6. roll — a list
  7. band — a music group
  8. net — for catching
  9. band — a ring
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. hand — in cards
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. root — the cause
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. net — in sport
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. root — of a word
  22. perch — the fish
  23. roll — a cake
  24. root — of a plant

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