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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. tear — from crying
  4. squash — to crush
  5. bass — low music
  6. bat — the animal
  7. spring — of water
  8. squash — the sport
  9. spring — the season
  10. bass — the fish
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. spring — a coil
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. tear — from crying
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. tear — to rip
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. squash — the vegetable
  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