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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: row · perch · field · date · bay · cold · stock · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. stock — goods
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — for sport
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. bay — a part of the sea
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — an illness
  20. perch — the fish
  21. row — a line
  22. stock — shares
  23. field — a subject
  24. row — to paddle

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