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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: tear · cue · drill · clip · perch · pitcher · ground · bound

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. That was ________________ to happen.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cue — for pool
  6. bound — tied together
  7. ground — crushed
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bound — certain
  10. ground — a position
  11. drill — army training
  12. drill — a practice
  13. cue — a signal
  14. cue — a hint
  15. tear — to rip
  16. clip — to cut
  17. drill — the tool
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bound — obliged
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. ground — the earth

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