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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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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. mouse — for a computer
  4. perch — the fish
  5. last — to go on
  6. cell — a phone
  7. file — a tool
  8. clip — for paper
  9. last — finally
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. cell — in biology
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. last — final
  21. sharp — clever
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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