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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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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 · race · hand · clip · shower · wind · racket · stick

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. hand — help
  4. shower — rain
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. race — a contest
  8. shower — to wash
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. clip — for paper
  11. clip — to cut
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. wind — moving air
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. clip — a video
  19. wind — moving air
  20. race — the arms race
  21. hand — in cards
  22. race — humankind
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. racket — for tennis

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