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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. ball — a dance
  3. bat — the animal
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. stem — to come from
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. perch — the fish
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. ground — crushed
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. ground — a position
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. ball — a great time
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. ground — the earth

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