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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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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: rush · perch · club · land · ball · shower · field · saw

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. land — a country
  3. club — for golf
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. club — a group
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. perch — the fish
  8. field — a subject
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. land — to come down
  11. rush — hurry
  12. club — for dancing
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. field — for sport
  17. saw — the tool
  18. ball — a great time
  19. field — farmland
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. land — ground
  22. saw — the tool
  23. ball — a dance
  24. shower — rain

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