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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. mate — a friend
  3. perch — the fish
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. mate — a partner
  6. land — to come down
  7. wound — an injury
  8. rash — hasty
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. land — ground
  12. wound — an injury
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. rash — a series
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. land — a country
  17. fine — high quality
  18. mate — to breed
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. fine — all right
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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