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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. sharp — clever
  3. kid — child
  4. degree — an amount
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. object — an aim
  7. land — to come down
  8. shower — to wash
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. perch — the fish
  14. shower — rain
  15. kid — to tease
  16. land — ground
  17. object — to protest
  18. degree — temperature
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. bark — to shout
  21. degree — from a university
  22. land — a country
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. object — a thing

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