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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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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: content · perch · spring · land · mine · clip · net · calf

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. perch — the fish
  3. spring — of water
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. land — a country
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. net — for catching
  12. land — ground
  13. content — happy
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. net — after costs
  16. spring — the season
  17. clip — for paper
  18. land — to come down
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. net — in sport
  22. mine — for digging
  23. spring — a coil
  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