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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: mouse · degree · face · march · row · clip · fan · perch

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. march — the month
  3. degree — from a university
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. march — music
  6. row — to paddle
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. mouse — for a computer
  9. face — part of the head
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. march — the month
  12. clip — a video
  13. face — to confront
  14. degree — an amount
  15. row — a line
  16. perch — the fish
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. clip — to cut
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. face — to point toward
  22. degree — temperature
  23. fan — a supporter
  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