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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. key — the most important part
  3. perch — the fish
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. field — for sport
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. field — a subject
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tear — to rip
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. court — of law
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wound — an injury
  19. field — farmland
  20. court — of a king
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. key — in music
  23. court — for sport
  24. key — for a lock

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