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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · season · field · roll · pitcher · clip · squash · perch

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. roll — a list
  5. squash — to crush
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. squash — the sport
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. perch — the fish
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — farmland
  12. season — of the year
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. cold — not warm
  15. season — in sport
  16. roll — a cake
  17. clip — to cut
  18. field — a subject
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. field — for sport
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. clip — for paper

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