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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: clip · season · wind · perch · capital · vault · kid · present

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. kid — to tease
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — a video
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. kid — child
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. present — there
  10. present — a gift
  11. clip — to cut
  12. season — in sport
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. capital — money
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. season — of the year
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. clip — for paper
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. perch — the fish
  23. vault — a safe
  24. present — the time now

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