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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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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: temple · perch · present · tear · fork · row · squash · snap

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. squash — the sport
  4. row — a line
  5. tear — to rip
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. present — there
  10. present — a gift
  11. squash — to crush
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. snap — to click
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. fork — in a road
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. row — to paddle
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. present — the time now
  23. perch — the fish
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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