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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 120 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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. perch — the fish
  5. rest — what's left
  6. mine — for digging
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. rest — what's left
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wax — to grow
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. branch — a division
  21. rest — a break
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. patient — a sick person

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