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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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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: cold · snap · face · mug · clip · fine · perch · row

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Where did you ________________ them?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — to cut
  3. perch — the fish
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mug — a face
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. fine — high quality
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. face — to confront
  11. mug — a cup
  12. snap — to click
  13. face — part of the head
  14. cold — not warm
  15. row — a line
  16. face — to point toward
  17. cold — an illness
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. clip — for paper
  20. fine — all right
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. row — to paddle
  24. mug — to rob

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