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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: cold · firm · kick · pop · pitcher · cell · clip · perch

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cell — a phone
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. perch — the fish
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pop — to visit
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — an illness
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. firm — a company
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. firm — decided
  15. firm — steady
  16. pop — music
  17. clip — a video
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. clip — to cut
  22. pop — soda
  23. kick — in football
  24. pitcher — a jug

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