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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. staff — employees
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. land — to come down
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — the fish
  10. clip — for paper
  11. face — to point toward
  12. face — part of the head
  13. clip — a video
  14. staff — employees
  15. land — ground
  16. last — final
  17. face — to confront
  18. last — to go on
  19. staff — a stick
  20. clip — to cut
  21. last — finally
  22. land — a country
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. row — to paddle

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