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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: perch · chip · bowl · straw · court · hand · bat · rule

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. hand — help
  3. rule — a law
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. chip — for betting
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. court — for sport
  12. perch — the fish
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. chip — to eat
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rule — government
  17. hand — in cards
  18. court — of a king
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. court — of law
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. bowl — to roll

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