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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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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 · pit · cell · land · shower · track · bowl · dip

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. track — a path
  3. dip — to sink
  4. pit — a hole
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. track — a song
  12. perch — the fish
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. dip — to dunk
  15. pit — in a race
  16. cell — a phone
  17. land — ground
  18. cell — in biology
  19. land — to come down
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. land — a country

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