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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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. pop — soda
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. hand — in cards
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mate — a friend
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wind — moving air
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. mate — a partner
  15. wind — moving air
  16. hand — help
  17. perch — the fish
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. pop — to visit
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. pop — music

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