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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. face — to point toward
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. face — part of the head
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. face — to confront
  11. clip — to cut
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. capital — money
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. perch — the fish
  16. capital — a city
  17. spell — a short time
  18. spell — magic

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