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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. row — a line
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. field — for sport
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. shower — rain
  9. row — to paddle
  10. wax — to grow
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. shower — to wash
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. field — farmland
  19. kid — to tease
  20. field — a subject
  21. cell — in biology
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — a phone
  24. perch — the fish

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