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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bound — tied together
  5. clip — for paper
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — the fish
  8. clip — to cut
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wake — a trail
  13. ground — a position
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. bound — certain
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. clip — a video
  20. date — the fruit
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. bound — obliged
  24. ground — the earth

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