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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 124 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. row — a line
  3. clip — a video
  4. land — to come down
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. clip — for paper
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. land — ground
  10. perch — the fish
  11. club — for golf
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. club — for dancing
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. row — to paddle
  18. tube — the underground
  19. land — a country
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. clip — to cut
  23. tube — a container
  24. club — a group

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