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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. chest — a box
  4. clip — a video
  5. stem — to come from
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. tube — a container
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. sharp — clever
  10. clip — to cut
  11. tube — the underground
  12. chest — of your body
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. chest — of your body
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. clip — for paper
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. track — a path
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. track — a song
  23. perch — the fish
  24. track — to keep track

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