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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: clip · game · net · season · spell · wound · perch · stem

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. clip — a video
  7. clip — to cut
  8. season — of the year
  9. game — a match
  10. spell — letters
  11. game — wild animals
  12. spell — magic
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. net — for catching
  17. perch — the fish
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. wound — an injury
  20. stem — to come from
  21. net — in sport
  22. spell — a short time
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. season — in sport

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