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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. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. perch — the fish
  3. clip — to cut
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. land — to come down
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. plane — a tool
  9. court — of law
  10. spring — of water
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. court — for sport
  14. land — ground
  15. spring — a coil
  16. court — of a king
  17. pound — a weight
  18. clip — a video
  19. land — a country
  20. mark — a grade
  21. clip — for paper
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. spring — the season

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