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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. game — a match
  3. perch — the fish
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. spring — a coil
  6. game — wild animals
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. season — of the year
  10. shower — rain
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — a video
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. content — the amount
  15. spring — of water
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. spring — the season
  18. shower — to wash
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. content — happy
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. season — in sport
  24. coach — a trainer

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