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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. clip — for paper
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. band — a ring
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. season — of the year
  11. fall — the season
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. capital — money
  15. track — a song
  16. fall — to drop
  17. clip — a video
  18. band — a music group
  19. track — to keep track
  20. season — in sport
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. fall — to drop
  23. track — a path
  24. band — a rubber band

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