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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 · court · hide · kid · squash · mine · perch · spring

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. spring — a coil
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. perch — the fish
  7. court — of law
  8. spring — of water
  9. squash — to crush
  10. spring — the season
  11. court — for sport
  12. kid — to tease
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. court — of a king
  16. squash — the sport
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. shower — to wash
  21. kid — child
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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