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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. face — to point toward
  3. wound — an injury
  4. bat — the animal
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. chair — a leader
  9. perch — the fish
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — to confront
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. wound — an injury
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. face — part of the head
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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