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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cold — not warm
  3. saw — the tool
  4. hand — help
  5. chip — to eat
  6. chip — for betting
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. prune — to trim
  9. field — for sport
  10. tube — the underground
  11. perch — the fish
  12. saw — the tool
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tube — a container
  18. field — farmland
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. prune — to trim
  21. field — a subject
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. tube — in a tire

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