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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. clip — for paper
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. plane — a tool
  5. fork — in a road
  6. kid — child
  7. bat — the animal
  8. mug — a cup
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. clip — to cut
  13. content — happy
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. content — the amount
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. mug — to rob
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. clip — a video
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. mug — a face
  24. perch — the fish

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