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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: bat · branch · pound · shower · perch · arm · net · land

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. shower — to wash
  3. net — for catching
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. perch — the fish
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. net — after costs
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. land — to come down
  16. shower — rain
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. land — a country
  19. net — in sport
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. bat — the animal
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. pound — a weight
  24. branch — a division

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