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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. squash — the sport
  3. degree — an amount
  4. squash — to crush
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. shower — to wash
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. bark — to shout
  17. row — a line
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. row — to paddle
  21. shower — rain
  22. degree — temperature
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. degree — from a university

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