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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. land — ground
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. land — to come down
  4. rest — what's left
  5. perch — the fish
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. land — a country
  9. shower — rain
  10. ground — crushed
  11. wind — moving air
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ground — a position
  17. shower — to wash
  18. rest — a break
  19. bear — the animal
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — the animal
  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