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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. game — wild animals
  7. band — a ring
  8. clip — a video
  9. chest — of your body
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. band — a music group
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. spring — of water
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. spring — the season
  18. game — a match
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — for paper
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. calf — a young animal

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