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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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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: tear · capital · perch · clip · prune · lie · march · fall

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. lie — to recline
  5. clip — a video
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. fall — the season
  8. fall — to drop
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. clip — for paper
  13. prune — to trim
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. perch — the fish
  17. fall — to drop
  18. clip — to cut
  19. capital — money
  20. march — the month
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tear — from crying
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. tear — to rip

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