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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: chair · cabinet · kick · perch · straw · racket · spring · degree

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. spring — of water
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. chair — a leader
  9. degree — an amount
  10. kick — in football
  11. spring — the season
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. degree — from a university
  15. spring — a coil
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. perch — the fish

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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