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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. charge — electricity
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wind — moving air
  5. kid — child
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. game — wild animals
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wound — an injury
  10. charge — in control
  11. clip — to cut
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. clip — a video
  14. game — a match
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. kid — to tease
  17. charge — a price
  18. wind — moving air

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