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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. scale — size or range
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. chair — a leader
  8. clip — a video
  9. mine — for digging
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mug — to rob
  14. scale — in music
  15. tear — from crying
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. land — to come down
  18. mug — a face
  19. land — ground
  20. mug — a cup
  21. tear — to rip
  22. tear — from crying
  23. clip — for paper
  24. perch — the fish

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