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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. last — final
  6. shower — to wash
  7. deal — to handle
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. staff — employees
  10. season — of the year
  11. clip — to cut
  12. season — in sport
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. last — to go on
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. last — finally
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. perch — the fish
  21. staff — employees
  22. shower — rain
  23. staff — a stick
  24. dip — to sink

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