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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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. fan — a supporter
  4. current — of water
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. game — a match
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wax — to grow
  11. current — happening now
  12. wound — an injury
  13. drill — army training
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. wound — an injury
  17. current — electric
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. game — wild animals
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. perch — the fish
  23. drill — the tool
  24. chest — a box

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