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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. clip — a video
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spring — a coil
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — a company
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. firm — steady
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — for paper
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. clip — to cut
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. spring — the season
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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