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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 124 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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. capital — money
  4. perch — the fish
  5. chest — of your body
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. root — of a word
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. fork — in a road
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. root — the cause
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. stem — to come from
  18. capital — a city
  19. shower — rain
  20. chest — a box
  21. root — of a plant
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. chest — of your body
  24. shower — to wash

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