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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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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. tear — to rip
  3. clip — for paper
  4. sharp — clever
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. scale — size or range
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. pop — soda
  10. chest — of your body
  11. clip — a video
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. tear — from crying
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chest — a box
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. pop — to visit
  22. scale — in music
  23. pop — music
  24. cabinet — ministers

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