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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: mine · straw · pit · court · perch · clip · shower · staff

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The old man leaned on his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. shower — rain
  3. pit — in a race
  4. perch — the fish
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. court — of a king
  7. clip — for paper
  8. court — for sport
  9. staff — employees
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — a video
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. court — of law
  16. pit — a hole
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. clip — to cut
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. staff — employees
  22. mine — for digging
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. staff — a stick

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