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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: spring · fall · calf · wind · pit · clip · sharp · perch

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. fall — to drop
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. pit — in a race
  6. spring — of water
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. spring — a coil
  9. pit — a hole
  10. fall — the season
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. spring — the season
  13. perch — the fish
  14. wind — moving air
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. sharp — clever
  19. fall — to drop
  20. wind — moving air
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — a video
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. perch — for a bird

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