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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. degree — from a university
  3. clip — a video
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. tear — from crying
  6. clip — to cut
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. degree — temperature
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. branch — a division
  13. pound — a weight
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. stem — to come from
  17. ball — a dance
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — to rip
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. degree — an amount
  23. ball — a great time
  24. stem — a stem cell

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