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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 116 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.

Make a worksheet

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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. mine — for digging
  3. race — humankind
  4. kick — in football
  5. cell — in biology
  6. prune — to trim
  7. race — the arms race
  8. clip — to cut
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cell — a phone
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. race — a contest
  16. prune — to trim
  17. clip — a video
  18. mine — belonging to me

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