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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 120 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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468
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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. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. clip — to cut
  6. net — after costs
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. cell — in biology
  10. net — in sport
  11. mate — to breed
  12. cell — a phone
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. net — for catching
  16. fork — in a road
  17. perch — the fish
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. clip — a video
  24. leaves — to go away

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