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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. band — a ring
  3. net — after costs
  4. bound — tied together
  5. clip — for paper
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. clip — to cut
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. bound — obliged
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. net — for catching
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. band — a music group
  15. kid — child
  16. row — to paddle
  17. saw — the tool
  18. bound — certain
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. kid — to tease
  21. clip — a video
  22. row — a line
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. net — in sport

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