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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. shower — to wash
  3. field — farmland
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. swing — music
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. wind — moving air
  8. swing — to play on
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. wind — moving air
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. saw — the tool
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. content — happy
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. swing — in golf
  17. shower — rain
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. field — for sport
  20. field — a subject
  21. content — the amount
  22. perch — the fish
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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