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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: ball · fall · perch · scale · clip · rule · spell · shower

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. shower — rain
  3. spell — letters
  4. clip — a video
  5. ball — a dance
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. spell — a short time
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. perch — the fish
  11. spell — magic
  12. clip — for paper
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rule — a law
  15. ball — a great time
  16. fall — the season
  17. rule — government
  18. fall — to drop
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. fall — to drop
  22. shower — to wash
  23. scale — in music
  24. ball — a round shape

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