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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. perch — the fish
  3. bound — obliged
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. capital — a city
  10. scale — size or range
  11. scale — in music
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. bear — the animal
  14. clip — to cut
  15. mine — for digging
  16. bound — certain
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. capital — money
  19. bear — the animal
  20. pound — a weight
  21. bound — tied together
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. clip — a video

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