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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. pop — to visit
  4. scale — size or range
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. pop — music
  13. perch — the fish
  14. scale — in music
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. stand — to bear
  17. rash — a series
  18. clip — a video
  19. field — farmland
  20. pop — soda
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. bat — the animal
  24. field — for sport

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