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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. shower — rain
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — a stick
  7. clip — to cut
  8. tube — the underground
  9. staff — employees
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. march — music
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. tube — a container
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — the fish
  20. shower — to wash
  21. pound — a weight
  22. rash — a series
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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