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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The ________________ went through the wall.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. game — wild animals
  6. staff — employees
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. kick — in football
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. degree — an amount
  13. game — a match
  14. degree — temperature
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. degree — from a university
  17. staff — a stick
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. row — to paddle
  22. wound — an injury
  23. staff — employees
  24. row — a line

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