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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. firm — decided
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. clip — a video
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. firm — steady
  15. mine — for digging
  16. hand — help
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. hand — in cards
  20. roll — a cake
  21. firm — a company
  22. clip — for paper
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. roll — a list

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