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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. ball — a dance
  3. bat — the animal
  4. ball — a great time
  5. field — for sport
  6. perch — the fish
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. field — a subject
  9. net — for catching
  10. net — in sport
  11. prune — to trim
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. foot — a measure
  14. field — farmland
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. scale — in music
  20. net — after costs
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. scale — size or range
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. perch — for a bird

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