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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: squash · deal · straw · cell · shower · net · perch · chest

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  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. perch — for a bird
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. squash — the sport
  4. squash — to crush
  5. shower — to wash
  6. net — in sport
  7. chest — of your body
  8. net — after costs
  9. chest — a box
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. net — for catching
  12. deal — to handle
  13. cell — a phone
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cell — in biology
  18. chest — of your body
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. perch — the fish
  22. squash — the vegetable
  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