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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. prune — to trim
  5. degree — temperature
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. degree — an amount
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bark — to shout
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. clip — a video
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. degree — from a university
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. perch — the fish
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. prune — to trim

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