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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 116 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: land · clip · hand · sharp · stem · cap · kid · perch

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — a video
  4. cap — a hat
  5. kid — to tease
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. kid — child
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. stem — to come from
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. cap — of ice
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. land — a country
  15. sharp — clever
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. perch — the fish
  18. land — to come down
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. cap — a lid
  22. land — ground
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — in cards

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