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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cell — a phone
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. cell — in biology
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. kick — in football
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. capital — money
  10. degree — an amount
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. degree — from a university
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. capital — a city
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. degree — temperature
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. rush — hurry
  23. perch — the fish
  24. foot — a measure

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