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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 120 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. club — for dancing
  3. club — for golf
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. track — a song
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bear — the animal
  9. perch — the fish
  10. bear — the animal
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. track — a path
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. track — to keep track
  19. clip — a video
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — to cut
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. club — a group

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