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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. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. net — after costs
  4. file — a tool
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. perch — the fish
  7. file — a document
  8. march — the month
  9. spring — of water
  10. file — a line of people
  11. roll — a list
  12. march — music
  13. clip — a video
  14. spring — the season
  15. roll — a cake
  16. bore — to tire
  17. spring — a coil
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. march — the month
  21. clip — to cut
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — in sport
  24. clip — for paper

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