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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 124 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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. drill — a practice
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. cell — a phone
  6. ground — the earth
  7. hand — help
  8. ball — a dance
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. clip — a video
  11. clip — to cut
  12. ground — a position
  13. ball — a great time
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. hand — in cards
  18. drill — the tool
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. cell — in biology
  24. drill — army training

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