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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: ground · court · saw · fan · game · march · straw · perch

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. court — for sport
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. march — the month
  8. march — music
  9. game — a match
  10. saw — the tool
  11. ground — a position
  12. ground — crushed
  13. court — of law
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — the fish
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. court — of a king
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. ground — the earth
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. game — wild animals
  24. march — the month

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