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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. staff — employees
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — in cards
  5. field — for sport
  6. field — farmland
  7. object — a thing
  8. spring — of water
  9. staff — a stick
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. spring — the season
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — for dancing
  16. club — a group
  17. object — an aim
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. staff — employees
  20. perch — the fish
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. wake — a trail
  23. object — to protest
  24. field — a subject

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