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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 120 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 party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. court — of a king
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. rush — hurry
  7. bat — the animal
  8. tube — the underground
  9. court — for sport
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. rash — hasty
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. court — of law
  15. tube — a container
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. shower — to wash
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. perch — the fish
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. shower — rain

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