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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. degree — from a university
  4. track — to keep track
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. clip — for paper
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. saw — the tool
  9. snap — to click
  10. saw — the tool
  11. perch — the fish
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. clip — a video
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. degree — temperature
  18. bat — the animal
  19. track — a path
  20. pound — a weight
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. degree — an amount
  24. track — a song

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