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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — for paper
  5. perch — the fish
  6. band — a ring
  7. clip — a video
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cabinet — a cupboard
  11. shower — to wash
  12. degree — temperature
  13. game — a match
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — to cut
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. band — a music group
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. chip — for betting
  20. shower — rain
  21. game — wild animals
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. chip — in a computer

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