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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. net — for catching
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. fall — to drop
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. net — after costs
  9. net — in sport
  10. fall — the season
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. fall — to drop
  14. hand — in cards
  15. chest — of your body
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. plane — a tool
  18. shower — rain
  19. perch — the fish
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. shower — to wash
  22. chest — of your body
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. chest — a box

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