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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 124 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. chest — of your body
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bark — to shout
  5. rest — a break
  6. press — a publisher
  7. rest — what's left
  8. scale — size or range
  9. chest — a box
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. chest — of your body
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. press — to push
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. perch — the fish
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. rest — what's left
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. press — newspapers
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. scale — in music

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