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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. spring — a coil
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. swing — in golf
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. spring — the season
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. row — a line
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. row — to paddle
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. swing — to play on
  15. scale — in music
  16. scale — size or range
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. sharp — clever
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. spring — of water
  21. swing — music
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. racket — for tennis

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