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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. spring — a coil
  3. tear — to rip
  4. hand — in cards
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. tear — from crying
  9. chip — for betting
  10. craft — a skill
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. degree — an amount
  13. chip — to eat
  14. tear — from crying
  15. degree — from a university
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. game — a match
  18. hand — help
  19. craft — boats
  20. spring — the season
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. spring — of water
  23. degree — temperature
  24. craft — a handicraft

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