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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. perch — the fish
  3. root — of a word
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. clip — a video
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. root — of a plant
  8. bound — tied together
  9. bound — certain
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. stock — shares
  12. bound — obliged
  13. clip — to cut
  14. stock — goods
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. mine — for digging
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. root — the cause

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