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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bound — obliged
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. shower — to wash
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. root — of a word
  9. land — to come down
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. land — a country
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. bound — certain
  15. shower — rain
  16. roll — a list
  17. perch — the fish
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. roll — a cake
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. root — the cause
  22. dip — to sink
  23. bound — tied together
  24. root — of a plant

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