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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. spell — letters
  3. hand — in cards
  4. stock — shares
  5. perch — the fish
  6. tear — from crying
  7. spell — magic
  8. clip — a video
  9. stock — goods
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cell — a phone
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. cue — for pool
  15. hand — help
  16. tear — from crying
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cue — a hint
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. spell — a short time
  22. tear — to rip
  23. cue — a signal
  24. cell — in biology

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