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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. bat — the animal
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. content — happy
  6. content — the amount
  7. branch — a division
  8. game — wild animals
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. field — for sport
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. field — a subject
  15. shower — rain
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. perch — the fish
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — a match
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. shower — to wash

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