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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cell — a phone
  3. kick — in football
  4. last — final
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — a subject
  7. last — finally
  8. last — to go on
  9. field — farmland
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. wound — an injury
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. cell — in biology
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. ball — a great time
  20. perch — the fish
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. ball — a dance

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