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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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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: perch · ball · bat · branch · dip · mine · chest · game

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. game — a match
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mine — for digging
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. branch — a division
  10. ball — a dance
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. chest — a box
  13. game — wild animals
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. chest — of your body
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. bat — the animal
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. ball — a great time
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. dip — to sink
  24. bat — in an idiom

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