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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. pop — music
  3. pop — to visit
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. land — ground
  7. kid — to tease
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. shower — to wash
  10. game — a match
  11. key — for a lock
  12. key — the most important part
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. land — to come down
  15. perch — the fish
  16. land — a country
  17. game — wild animals
  18. swing — in golf
  19. shower — rain
  20. kid — child
  21. pop — soda
  22. swing — music
  23. key — in 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