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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rash — a series
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. squash — to crush
  6. rash — hasty
  7. mug — to rob
  8. net — after costs
  9. game — wild animals
  10. net — for catching
  11. cold — not warm
  12. clip — a video
  13. mug — a cup
  14. clip — for paper
  15. mug — a face
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. net — in sport
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. perch — the fish
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. game — a match
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. squash — the sport

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