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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. I can't ________________ this cold.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. file — a line of people
  4. mate — to breed
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. spring — of water
  8. squash — to crush
  9. perch — the fish
  10. spring — a coil
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a match
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. mate — a friend
  18. spring — the season
  19. pound — a weight
  20. file — a document
  21. mate — a partner
  22. stand — to bear
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. file — a tool

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