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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. staff — employees
  6. game — a match
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. mine — for digging
  13. perch — the fish
  14. staff — a stick
  15. row — to paddle
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. game — wild animals
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. staff — employees
  22. prune — to trim
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. row — a quarrel

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