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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 116 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 broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. kid — child
  3. wake — a trail
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. clip — a video
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — to cut
  8. fall — to drop
  9. kid — to tease
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. ground — the earth
  13. land — a country
  14. land — ground
  15. fall — to drop
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. ground — a position
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. object — a thing
  20. object — to protest
  21. ground — crushed
  22. object — an aim
  23. clip — for paper
  24. fall — the season

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