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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. court — of law
  3. march — the month
  4. march — the month
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. court — of a king
  8. march — music
  9. object — to protest
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. object — a thing
  15. rush — hurry
  16. clip — a video
  17. object — an aim
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bass — the fish
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. court — for sport
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — rain
  24. bass — low 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