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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 keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. season — in sport
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. scale — size or range
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — the fish
  8. clip — for paper
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. season — of the year
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. scale — in music
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. clip — to cut
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. track — a song
  17. file — a line of people
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. file — a document
  21. clip — a video
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. track — a path
  24. file — a tool

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