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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. cap — a hat
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. clip — for paper
  10. perch — the fish
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. mine — for digging
  13. clip — a video
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. cap — of ice
  16. wake — a trail
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. wind — moving air
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. cap — a lid
  24. snap — to click

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