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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. clip — for paper
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. date — the fruit
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. rush — hurry
  9. clip — a video
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. court — of law
  12. bat — the animal
  13. perch — the fish
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. stem — to come from
  17. clip — to cut
  18. court — of a king
  19. court — for sport
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. stem — of a plant

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