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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: perch · game · mate · file · land · tear · pitcher · branch

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. file — a document
  4. tear — from crying
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. tear — from crying
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. game — wild animals
  10. mate — a friend
  11. perch — the fish
  12. branch — a division
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. tear — to rip
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. game — a match
  19. mate — a partner
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. mate — to breed
  22. file — a line of people
  23. land — a country
  24. perch — for a bird

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