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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. degree — from a university
  3. perch — the fish
  4. hand — in cards
  5. degree — an amount
  6. land — a country
  7. file — a tool
  8. last — final
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. last — to go on
  12. file — a document
  13. land — ground
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. degree — temperature
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. last — finally
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. rush — hurry
  23. land — to come down
  24. file — a line of people

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