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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  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. straw — dry grass
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. court — of law
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. perch — the fish
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. court — of a king
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. capital — money
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. sharp — clever
  12. court — for sport
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. cell — in biology
  18. rock — a stone
  19. capital — a city
  20. cell — a phone
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. rock — music
  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