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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. hand — help
  3. clip — a video
  4. hand — in cards
  5. net — after costs
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. drill — a practice
  10. drill — army training
  11. rule — government
  12. net — in sport
  13. saw — the tool
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. drill — the tool
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. game — wild animals
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. net — for catching
  21. saw — the tool
  22. rule — a law
  23. bowl — a football final
  24. rule — to rule out

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