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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: face · cap · perch · land · bulb · snap · clip · wind

  1. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I've got to change the light ________________.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  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. bulb — for light
  2. face — to point toward
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — moving air
  5. clip — for paper
  6. bulb — for light
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — part of the head
  13. clip — to cut
  14. cap — a hat
  15. land — to come down
  16. cap — of ice
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. snap — to click
  21. cap — a lid
  22. land — ground
  23. land — a country
  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