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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. snap — to click
  4. net — in sport
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. chip — for betting
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. shower — to wash
  10. present — a gift
  11. present — the time now
  12. net — after costs
  13. present — there
  14. kid — child
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. net — for catching
  17. land — ground
  18. perch — the fish
  19. land — to come down
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. land — a country
  23. chip — to eat
  24. shower — rain

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