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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 120 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 kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. cell — a phone
  3. shower — to wash
  4. season — of the year
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. scale — size or range
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. tube — the underground
  10. bat — the animal
  11. sharp — clever
  12. season — in sport
  13. perch — the fish
  14. cell — in biology
  15. tube — a container
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. scale — in music
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. shower — rain
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bat — for baseball

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