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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. last — to go on
  4. current — of water
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. bat — the animal
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. deal — to handle
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. last — finally
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. last — final
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cell — a phone
  17. current — happening now
  18. perch — the fish
  19. tube — the underground
  20. cell — in biology
  21. clip — a video
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. tube — a container
  24. current — electric

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