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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. snap — to click
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. clip — to cut
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. clip — for paper
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. net — in sport
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — after costs
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. clip — a video
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. kick — in football

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