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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. clip — a video
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — to cut
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. squash — to crush
  7. chair — a leader
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. prune — to trim
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. squash — the sport
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — the animal
  15. snap — to click
  16. ball — a dance
  17. clip — for paper
  18. ball — a great time
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. prune — to trim
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. chair — a professorship

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