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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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. rule — government
  3. cell — in biology
  4. fall — to drop
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. fall — to drop
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wax — to grow
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. clip — a video
  19. fall — the season
  20. rule — a law
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. game — wild animals
  23. perch — the fish
  24. perch — for a bird

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