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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 116 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 am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. shower — rain
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. file — a document
  5. content — happy
  6. squash — to crush
  7. content — the amount
  8. row — to paddle
  9. cell — a phone
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. row — a line
  17. perch — the fish
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. shower — to wash
  20. squash — the sport
  21. file — a line of people
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. file — a tool
  24. cell — in biology

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