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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: wound · court · land · craft · jam · perch · squash · shower

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. squash — the sport
  5. wound — an injury
  6. court — for sport
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. craft — boats
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. court — of law
  12. squash — to crush
  13. land — to come down
  14. perch — the fish
  15. court — of a king
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. land — ground
  21. shower — rain
  22. craft — a skill
  23. wound — an injury
  24. shower — to wash

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