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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. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. field — a subject
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. perch — the fish
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. field — for sport
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. deal — to handle
  13. field — farmland
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. key — in music
  20. file — a line of people
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. clip — a video

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