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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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. spell — magic
  3. perch — the fish
  4. spell — letters
  5. land — a country
  6. cue — a signal
  7. shower — to wash
  8. cue — for pool
  9. spell — a short time
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — to crush
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cue — a hint
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — to trim
  17. squash — the sport
  18. hand — help
  19. shower — rain
  20. hand — in cards
  21. land — ground
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. land — to come down
  24. prune — the fruit

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