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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. clip — a video
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. shower — rain
  6. clip — for paper
  7. board — to get on
  8. cap — a lid
  9. tear — to rip
  10. cap — a hat
  11. tear — from crying
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. perch — the fish
  14. clip — to cut
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. tear — from crying
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. content — happy
  21. content — the amount
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. shower — to wash
  24. board — a committee

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