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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. land — a country
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. land — to come down
  5. spring — a coil
  6. squash — to crush
  7. clip — for paper
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. clip — a video
  10. rush — hurry
  11. clip — to cut
  12. spring — the season
  13. land — ground
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. bat — the animal
  16. perch — the fish
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. squash — the sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. squash — the vegetable

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