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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 124 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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. ground — crushed
  4. perch — the fish
  5. wound — an injury
  6. plane — a tool
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. date — the fruit
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. root — of a word
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. kid — child
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. kid — to tease
  18. root — the cause
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. ground — a position
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. ground — the earth
  23. root — of a plant
  24. wound — an injury

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