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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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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. clip — to cut
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. clip — for paper
  6. spell — a short time
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. degree — from a university
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. plane — a tool
  12. clip — a video
  13. spell — magic
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. spell — letters
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hide — to keep secret

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