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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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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: swing · spring · shower · perch · pitcher · hand · cell · lean

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. spring — of water
  4. cell — in biology
  5. shower — to wash
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. lean — thin
  9. spring — the season
  10. swing — to play on
  11. shower — rain
  12. swing — in golf
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. lean — to bend
  17. spring — a coil
  18. swing — music
  19. hand — in cards
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. hand — help
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. cell — a phone

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