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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. season — of the year
  3. degree — temperature
  4. wax — to grow
  5. shower — to wash
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. perch — the fish
  8. land — a country
  9. shower — rain
  10. land — ground
  11. root — of a plant
  12. net — for catching
  13. degree — an amount
  14. net — in sport
  15. season — in sport
  16. land — to come down
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. root — of a word
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. net — after costs
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. degree — from a university
  23. root — the cause
  24. wax — for sculpting

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