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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: perch · date · cold · clip · wind · row · fan · roll

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. date — the fruit
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — not warm
  6. clip — a video
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. row — to paddle
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. cold — an illness
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. clip — for paper
  15. perch — the fish
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — a cake
  18. wind — moving air
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. wind — moving air
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. row — a line
  24. fan — a supporter

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