5th grade multiple-meaning words worksheets

Fifth graders work the pairs that school subjects depend on: a church organ and a body organ, a marble column and a column of numbers, a school of fish and a school with desks. Textbooks switch meanings without warning; this sheet builds the reflex to notice.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core L.5.4.a.

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The kind of sentences you'll get

Read each sentence. Circle the letter of the meaning the word has in that sentence.

  1. She turned the key and pushed the door open. Here, “key” means . a tool that opens locks · a set of musical notes

    Answer: a tool that opens locks

  2. The church organ filled the hall with sound. Here, “organ” means . a body part with a job to do · a keyboard instrument with pipes
  3. Gardeners prune the roses each spring. Here, “prune” means . to trim a plant’s branches · a dried plum

Every print pulls a fresh set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.

What's on each sheet

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

Connect it to textbook reading: have your student hunt one multiple-meaning word in a science or social studies page and state which meaning is on duty. Subject-specific meanings (current, scale, matter) are the ones tests love; treat each catch as a small win.

Watch for: Both answer choices are real meanings of the word; that's the point. The question is never which meaning exists, only which one this sentence uses. The clue is rarely the word itself and almost always its neighbors: cave and flew for the animal bat, swung and home run for the wooden one.

Common questions about multiple-meaning words

Do multiple-meaning words show up on standardized tests?
Constantly; they're a favorite because they test reading, not memory. The question format is usually identical to this sheet: a sentence, the word, and meanings that are all real. Students trained to cite the deciding clue are exactly the ones those items reward.
What about words that change sound with meaning?
Pairs like a live wire and where you live, or a bass in the lake and a bass drum, shift their sound with their meaning. This sheet keeps to same-sound pairs so it works as silent seatwork; the sound-shifters make a good read-aloud game afterward.

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Aligned to Common Core L.5.4.a. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 137, updated August 2026.

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