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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. content — happy
  4. shower — to wash
  5. content — the amount
  6. spell — letters
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. staff — a stick
  9. spell — a short time
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. bark — to shout
  12. shower — rain
  13. land — to come down
  14. perch — the fish
  15. staff — employees
  16. saw — the tool
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. land — ground
  20. spell — magic
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. land — a country
  23. saw — the tool
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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