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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. ball — a dance
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bat — the animal
  11. spring — the season
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. ball — a great time
  16. row — a line
  17. board — to get on
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. board — a committee
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. spring — of water
  22. perch — the fish
  23. row — to paddle
  24. ball — a round shape

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