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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 120 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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. sharp — clever
  5. shower — to wash
  6. file — a tool
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. vault — a safe
  9. shower — rain
  10. chair — a leader
  11. perch — the fish
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. capital — a city
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. file — a document
  16. tube — a container
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. capital — money
  19. file — a line of people
  20. tube — the underground
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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