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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. cell — a phone
  3. clip — for paper
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cell — in biology
  6. season — of the year
  7. clip — to cut
  8. season — in sport
  9. shower — rain
  10. perch — the fish
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. row — a line
  13. plane — a tool
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. net — in sport
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. clip — a video
  19. net — after costs
  20. shower — to wash
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. row — to paddle
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. net — for catching

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