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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. field — a subject
  3. sharp — clever
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — in music
  6. snap — to click
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. march — the month
  10. pound — a weight
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. scale — size or range
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. march — music
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. field — farmland
  21. perch — the fish
  22. field — for sport
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. march — the month

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