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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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. chest — of your body
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. board — a committee
  5. date — the fruit
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. perch — the fish
  8. tear — to rip
  9. spring — the season
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. chest — a box
  12. prune — to trim
  13. spring — a coil
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. chest — of your body
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying
  19. prune — to trim
  20. board — to get on
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. spring — of water
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. prune — 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