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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. spell — magic
  3. clip — a video
  4. staff — employees
  5. staff — employees
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cold — not warm
  11. staff — a stick
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. perch — the fish
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. content — happy
  18. cold — an illness
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. content — the amount
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. spell — letters

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