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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. field — a subject
  4. shower — rain
  5. face — part of the head
  6. clip — a video
  7. field — for sport
  8. mate — to breed
  9. shower — to wash
  10. content — the amount
  11. content — happy
  12. clip — to cut
  13. field — farmland
  14. stock — shares
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. stock — goods
  17. face — to point toward
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. clip — for paper
  20. mate — a partner
  21. mate — a friend
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. face — to confront
  24. perch — the fish

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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