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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 goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. march — music
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. prune — to trim
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. spring — the season
  8. march — the month
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. chair — a leader
  13. file — a line of people
  14. march — the month
  15. file — a tool
  16. lean — to bend
  17. spring — of water
  18. lean — thin
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. spring — a coil
  21. prune — to trim
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — the fish
  24. file — a document

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