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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. land — ground
  5. degree — from a university
  6. land — a country
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. rock — music
  10. perch — the fish
  11. bat — the animal
  12. degree — an amount
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. land — to come down
  15. degree — temperature
  16. rock — a stone
  17. wound — an injury
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. dip — to sink
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. wound — an injury

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