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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. last — final
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. last — to go on
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. perch — the fish
  9. file — a tool
  10. chair — a leader
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bore — to tire
  13. land — ground
  14. file — a line of people
  15. last — finally
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bore — to drill
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. land — to come down
  22. file — a document
  23. land — a country
  24. saw — the tool

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