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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. shower — to wash
  4. root — of a word
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. kid — to tease
  8. pound — a weight
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. root — of a plant
  14. wind — moving air
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. perch — the fish
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. sharp — clever
  19. kid — child
  20. shower — rain
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. root — the cause
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. trunk — of a car

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