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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · perch · cold · ball · straw · file · pitch · season

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. perch — the fish
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. file — a document
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cold — not warm
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. pitch — completely
  9. season — in sport
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. ball — a dance
  13. shower — to wash
  14. file — a line of people
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a tool
  17. ball — a great time
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. shower — rain
  20. season — of the year
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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