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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. perch — the fish
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. fine — high quality
  5. current — electric
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. clip — a video
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. chair — a leader
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. cold — not warm
  15. current — happening now
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. mark — a grade
  20. current — of water
  21. mark — a trace
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cold — an illness
  24. clip — to cut

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