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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 120 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: season · ground · bat · mine · fan · perch · land · present

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. ground — crushed
  10. present — a gift
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. present — there
  13. ground — the earth
  14. bat — the animal
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. present — the time now
  17. perch — the fish
  18. season — in sport
  19. season — of the year
  20. ground — a position
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. land — a country

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