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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. perch — the fish
  7. chest — of your body
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. wind — moving air
  11. chest — of your body
  12. tube — a container
  13. wind — moving air
  14. game — a match
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. chest — a box
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. date — the fruit
  20. game — wild animals
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. fork — in a road

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