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

Word bank: capital · deal · face · perch · shower · root · clip · snap

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  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. shower — to wash
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. face — to point toward
  5. snap — to click
  6. root — of a word
  7. root — of a plant
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. clip — a video
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. perch — the fish
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. clip — to cut
  15. root — the cause
  16. capital — money
  17. clip — for paper
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. face — part of the head
  21. deal — to handle
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. face — to confront
  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