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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. root — of a word
  3. fall — the season
  4. clip — a video
  5. scale — size or range
  6. net — in sport
  7. fall — to drop
  8. swing — in golf
  9. swing — to play on
  10. last — to go on
  11. fall — to drop
  12. net — after costs
  13. ground — the earth
  14. root — of a plant
  15. ground — a position
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. last — final
  18. net — for catching
  19. scale — in music
  20. ground — crushed
  21. root — the cause
  22. swing — music
  23. clip — to cut
  24. last — finally

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