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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. land — to come down
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — not warm
  10. shower — rain
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cold — an illness
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. rush — hurry
  16. march — the month
  17. land — a country
  18. perch — the fish
  19. march — music
  20. land — ground
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. temple — a place of worship

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