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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. fall — the season
  3. clip — to cut
  4. perch — the fish
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. fall — to drop
  10. bat — the animal
  11. fall — to drop
  12. root — the cause
  13. clip — a video
  14. spring — the season
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. root — of a plant
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. clip — for paper
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. root — of a word
  22. craft — a skill
  23. craft — boats
  24. spring — of water

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