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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 116 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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. field — for sport
  4. game — wild animals
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. game — a match
  9. spell — letters
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. perch — the fish
  12. rash — hasty
  13. prune — to trim
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. chip — to eat
  16. rash — a series
  17. field — a subject
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. field — farmland
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — a short time
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. chip — for betting

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