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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. row — a line
  3. land — ground
  4. kid — child
  5. pop — soda
  6. rest — a break
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. squash — the sport
  10. pit — a hole
  11. pit — in a race
  12. pop — music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rest — what's left
  17. kid — to tease
  18. rest — what's left
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. land — a country
  22. row — to paddle
  23. pop — to visit
  24. land — to come down

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