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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. key — for a lock
  3. file — a line of people
  4. file — a tool
  5. spring — the season
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. spring — of water
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. spring — a coil
  10. perch — the fish
  11. race — the arms race
  12. key — in music
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. clip — a video
  15. race — humankind
  16. branch — a division
  17. shower — to wash
  18. clip — for paper
  19. file — a document
  20. race — a contest
  21. key — the most important part
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. shower — rain
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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