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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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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: perch · lean · straw · tear · bat · dip · root · stock

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. root — of a plant
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. stock — goods
  5. tear — from crying
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. root — of a word
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. bat — the animal
  10. lean — thin
  11. stock — shares
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. root — the cause
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. tear — to rip
  18. dip — to sink
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. tear — from crying
  21. lean — to bend
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. straw — a straw man

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