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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: wake · clip · court · cold · spring · pitcher · perch · safe

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. clip — a video
  3. perch — the fish
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spring — the season
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. court — of law
  11. court — for sport
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. wake — a trail
  15. clip — to cut
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spring — a coil
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. safe — a strongbox
  22. spring — of water
  23. court — of a king
  24. safe — out of danger

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