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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 116 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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. plane — a tool
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. cell — in biology
  9. spring — a coil
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. cell — a phone
  13. fine — high quality
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spring — of water
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. pop — to visit
  20. spring — the season
  21. mine — for digging
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. plane — an aircraft

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