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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 120 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: rest · face · clip · perch · key · stock · swing · prune

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. key — the most important part
  3. stock — goods
  4. swing — music
  5. swing — to play on
  6. face — to point toward
  7. stock — shares
  8. clip — for paper
  9. key — for a lock
  10. key — in music
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. rest — a break
  15. face — to confront
  16. rest — what's left
  17. prune — to trim
  18. face — part of the head
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. clip — to cut
  22. swing — in golf
  23. rest — what's left
  24. clip — a video

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