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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. clip — a video
  3. land — ground
  4. perch — the fish
  5. net — in sport
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. game — a match
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. drill — the tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. spring — the season
  15. drill — army training
  16. spring — a coil
  17. drill — a practice
  18. net — after costs
  19. land — a country
  20. spring — of water
  21. game — wild animals
  22. clip — for paper
  23. land — to come down
  24. game — a kind of play

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