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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: perch · pitcher · snap · game · sharp · chest · rash · spring

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. spring — the season
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. spring — a coil
  7. rash — a series
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. rash — hasty
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. perch — the fish
  13. snap — to click
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. game — a match
  19. chest — of your body
  20. game — wild animals
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. sharp — clever
  23. spring — of water
  24. sharp — exactly

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