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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. field — farmland
  3. cap — a hat
  4. pit — a hole
  5. pop — soda
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. face — to point toward
  9. pit — in a race
  10. cap — a lid
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. clip — for paper
  13. pop — music
  14. perch — the fish
  15. face — part of the head
  16. pop — to visit
  17. field — for sport
  18. bat — the animal
  19. clip — a video
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. clip — to cut
  22. face — to confront
  23. field — a subject
  24. bat — in an idiom

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