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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 120 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. shower — rain
  3. band — a music group
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. scale — in music
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. capital — a city
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. band — a ring
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. perch — the fish
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — size or range
  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