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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 120 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  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. pitcher — a jug
  2. fine — high quality
  3. shower — rain
  4. scale — size or range
  5. game — a match
  6. fine — all right
  7. shower — to wash
  8. drill — a practice
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. game — wild animals
  11. band — a ring
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. band — a music group
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. drill — the tool
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — in music
  20. drill — army training
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. perch — the fish
  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