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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: date · perch · wound · net · bulb · degree · land · row

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I've got to change the light ________________.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. perch — the fish
  4. wound — an injury
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bulb — for light
  8. land — to come down
  9. row — a line
  10. date — the fruit
  11. wound — an injury
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — after costs
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bulb — for light
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. land — a country
  21. degree — from a university
  22. land — ground
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. row — to paddle

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