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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's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. When will it ________________ you to start?
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. clip — for paper
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — a subject
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. perch — the fish
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. clip — to cut
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. field — for sport
  16. suit — clothes
  17. suit — to fit
  18. fork — in a road
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. snap — to click
  21. clip — a video
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. branch — a division
  24. suit — in cards

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