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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. band — a ring
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. content — happy
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. capital — a city
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. present — there
  12. present — the time now
  13. foot — a measure
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. game — a match
  17. band — a music group
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. content — the amount
  20. capital — money
  21. game — wild animals
  22. present — a gift
  23. perch — the fish
  24. foot — the bottom

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