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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Did you ________________ the button?
  20. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. shower — to wash
  3. field — a subject
  4. chest — a box
  5. club — a group
  6. chest — of your body
  7. perch — the fish
  8. hand — in cards
  9. field — for sport
  10. bore — to drill
  11. shower — rain
  12. bore — to tire
  13. hand — help
  14. field — farmland
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. press — a publisher
  18. chest — of your body
  19. press — to push
  20. press — newspapers
  21. club — for dancing
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. club — for golf
  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