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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wake · perch · cold · clip · march · deal · spring · craft

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. wake — a trail
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — to cut
  5. deal — to handle
  6. craft — boats
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. craft — a skill
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. spring — of water
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. march — the month
  17. cold — an illness
  18. spring — the season
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. perch — the fish
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. march — music
  24. craft — a handicraft

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