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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. ground — a position
  3. drill — a practice
  4. shower — rain
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. ground — the earth
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. pop — to visit
  9. clip — to cut
  10. drill — the tool
  11. swing — music
  12. pop — music
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. swing — in golf
  15. clip — for paper
  16. ground — crushed
  17. shower — to wash
  18. scale — in music
  19. scale — size or range
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. drill — army training
  23. perch — the fish
  24. pop — soda

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