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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. perch — the fish
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — a box
  7. clip — to cut
  8. chest — of your body
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. bear — the animal
  12. branch — a division
  13. clip — a video
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. clip — for paper
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. bear — the animal
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — dry grass

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