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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. prune — to trim
  3. capital — money
  4. current — electric
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. prune — to trim
  8. current — of water
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. capital — a city
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — a phone
  15. current — happening now
  16. stock — shares
  17. shower — to wash
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. stock — goods
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. kick — in football

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