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

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. lean — to bend
  4. clip — to cut
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. shower — rain
  8. perch — the fish
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. spell — letters
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. spell — magic
  14. clip — for paper
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — an illness
  18. spell — a short time
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. mark — a grade
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. mark — a trace
  23. lean — thin
  24. clip — a video

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