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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. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. clip — a video
  3. saw — the tool
  4. deal — to handle
  5. cold — an illness
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. kick — in football
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. saw — the tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cold — not warm
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kick — with a leg

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