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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 · wound · perch · kid · degree · hide · craft · clip

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. wound — an injury
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. face — part of the head
  6. degree — temperature
  7. clip — to cut
  8. degree — from a university
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. degree — an amount
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. wound — an injury
  14. clip — a video
  15. kid — to tease
  16. craft — a skill
  17. face — to point toward
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. kid — child
  20. clip — for paper
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. craft — boats
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. perch — the fish

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