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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  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. perch — the fish
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mine — for digging
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. capital — money
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — a video
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. capital — a city
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. rule — a law
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. rule — government
  20. sharp — clever
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. racket — for tennis
  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