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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. perch — the fish
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. scale — in music
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. shower — rain
  11. land — ground
  12. land — a country
  13. court — for sport
  14. land — to come down
  15. court — of law
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. pop — soda
  18. scale — size or range
  19. shower — to wash
  20. prune — to trim
  21. pop — music
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. court — of a king
  24. pop — to visit

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