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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. net — after costs
  4. last — final
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bat — the animal
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. saw — the tool
  10. last — finally
  11. perch — the fish
  12. last — to go on
  13. date — the fruit
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. kid — to tease
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. rock — a stone
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. net — for catching
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. rock — music
  24. net — in sport

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