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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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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 · game · sharp · root · hand · mark · bass · perch

  1. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. hand — help
  4. perch — the fish
  5. shower — to wash
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. root — of a plant
  8. shower — rain
  9. root — of a word
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. game — wild animals
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bass — low music
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. game — a match
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. root — the cause
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. hand — in cards
  22. bass — the fish
  23. sharp — clever
  24. mark — a trace

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