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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. perch — the fish
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. prune — to trim
  7. foot — a measure
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — an illness
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. shower — rain
  16. chest — a box
  17. cold — not warm
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. prune — to trim
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cell — in biology

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