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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. club — for golf
  4. perch — the fish
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. press — to push
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. ground — a position
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. press — a publisher
  11. ground — the earth
  12. press — newspapers
  13. club — for dancing
  14. spell — letters
  15. spell — magic
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. ground — crushed
  18. shower — rain
  19. capital — money
  20. spell — a short time
  21. club — a group
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. capital — a city
  24. date — the fruit

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