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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. calf — of the leg
  7. cold — an illness
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. perch — the fish
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — not warm
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. clip — to cut
  19. date — the fruit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. sharp — clever
  23. plane — a tool
  24. plane — in geometry

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