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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. Did you ________________ the button?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. press — newspapers
  3. ball — a great time
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. perch — the fish
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — a subject
  8. press — a publisher
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. scale — in music
  13. clip — a video
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. press — to push
  16. wind — moving air
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. clip — to cut
  20. field — for sport
  21. clip — for paper
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. perch — for a bird

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