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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. field — for sport
  3. march — the month
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. march — music
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. fall — to drop
  8. content — happy
  9. clip — to cut
  10. face — to point toward
  11. clip — a video
  12. field — a subject
  13. march — the month
  14. fall — the season
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. perch — the fish
  17. clip — for paper
  18. face — part of the head
  19. face — to confront
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. field — farmland
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — the amount
  24. fall — to drop

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