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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. What do you think of the new ________________?
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. kid — to tease
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. bass — the fish
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. march — the month
  10. march — the month
  11. kid — child
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bass — low music
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. spring — of water
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. march — music
  23. spring — the season
  24. clip — a video

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