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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: vault · shower · degree · prune · saw · hand · perch · row

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  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. hand — help
  2. saw — the tool
  3. shower — to wash
  4. row — a line
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. row — to paddle
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. saw — the tool
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. perch — the fish
  14. degree — an amount
  15. shower — rain
  16. vault — a safe
  17. degree — temperature
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — to trim
  22. degree — from a university
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  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