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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bark — to shout
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. tear — from crying
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. hand — help
  10. perch — the fish
  11. sharp — clever
  12. rock — music
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. row — to paddle
  17. hand — in cards
  18. scale — size or range
  19. row — a line
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. scale — in music
  22. rock — a stone
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. scale — for weighing

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