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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. land — a country
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. clip — a video
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. clip — for paper
  8. degree — from a university
  9. rest — a break
  10. land — ground
  11. spring — the season
  12. perch — the fish
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rest — what's left
  17. rest — what's left
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. saw — the tool
  20. saw — the tool
  21. land — to come down
  22. chair — a leader
  23. spring — of water
  24. degree — an amount

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