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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: perch · scale · ruler · clip · trunk · cold · key · wake

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. key — the most important part
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. cold — not warm
  9. perch — the fish
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. key — in music
  13. clip — to cut
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. key — for a lock
  16. wake — a trail
  17. clip — for paper
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. cold — an illness
  23. clip — a video
  24. scale — size or range

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