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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: wind · field · mate · clip · row · squash · mine · perch

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mate — a partner
  4. row — a line
  5. mine — for digging
  6. clip — for paper
  7. row — to paddle
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. field — farmland
  10. clip — to cut
  11. mate — a friend
  12. field — a subject
  13. squash — the sport
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. perch — the fish
  16. clip — a video
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mate — to breed
  23. squash — to crush
  24. field — for sport

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