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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. clip — for paper
  3. file — a tool
  4. squash — to crush
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. squash — the sport
  7. clip — to cut
  8. file — a document
  9. lie — to recline
  10. perch — the fish
  11. court — for sport
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. file — a line of people
  15. court — of law
  16. march — the month
  17. spring — of water
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. spring — a coil
  20. court — of a king
  21. march — music
  22. clip — a video
  23. spring — the season
  24. perch — for a bird

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