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

Word bank: wave · perch · track · wind · court · kid · cold · shower

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. track — a song
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. track — to keep track
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. shower — rain
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. wind — moving air
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. court — for sport
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cold — not warm
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. court — of law
  20. track — a path
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. kid — to tease
  23. perch — the fish
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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