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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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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: straw · perch · hand · kick · tear · fine · roll · ground

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. tear — to rip
  4. fine — high quality
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. perch — the fish
  7. hand — help
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. ground — the earth
  11. ground — a position
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. kick — in football
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. tear — from crying
  19. fine — all right
  20. tear — from crying
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. roll — a cake
  23. roll — a list
  24. ground — crushed

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