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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. tube — a container
  3. can — to be able to
  4. lie — to recline
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. clip — to cut
  9. kid — to tease
  10. file — a line of people
  11. clip — a video
  12. kid — child
  13. perch — the fish
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. file — a tool
  17. capital — a city
  18. can — a tin
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. clip — for paper
  21. can — a tin
  22. file — a document
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. lie — an untruth

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