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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. land — ground
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. land — to come down
  5. hand — help
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. hand — in cards
  10. chest — of your body
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. capital — a city
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. chest — a box
  16. kick — in football
  17. land — a country
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. vault — a safe
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. perch — the fish
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. capital — money
  24. chest — of your body

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