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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: clip · snap · perch · bat · bulb · last · bowl · game

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bat — the animal
  3. last — final
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bulb — for light
  7. last — to go on
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. snap — to click
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. bulb — for light
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. game — a match
  18. clip — a video
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. perch — the fish
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — to cut

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