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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: fork · perch · wake · game · stem · snap · cold · clip

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. perch — the fish
  10. cold — an illness
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. game — wild animals
  14. wake — a trail
  15. fork — in a road
  16. stem — to come from
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. clip — to cut
  19. snap — to click
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. game — a match
  22. clip — for paper
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. clip — a video

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