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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cell — a phone
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — there
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. game — a match
  9. cap — a hat
  10. cell — in biology
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cap — a lid
  14. last — to go on
  15. pound — a weight
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. bore — to drill
  18. clip — a video
  19. last — final
  20. bore — to tire
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. cap — of ice
  24. present — a gift

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