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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  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. clip — to cut
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. clip — a video
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. march — the month
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. prune — to trim
  12. perch — the fish
  13. march — the month
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. shower — rain
  17. march — music
  18. shower — to wash
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. bark — to shout
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. straw — dry grass
  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