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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. game — a match
  3. perch — the fish
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. court — of a king
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. hand — in cards
  9. mine — for digging
  10. row — to paddle
  11. drill — army training
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. game — wild animals
  14. drill — a practice
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. hand — help
  18. court — for sport
  19. row — a line
  20. drill — the tool
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. court — of law

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