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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. tear — from crying
  3. can — to be able to
  4. net — for catching
  5. club — for golf
  6. pit — a hole
  7. pit — in a race
  8. club — for dancing
  9. club — a group
  10. net — after costs
  11. can — a tin
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. net — in sport
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. can — a tin
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. bat — the animal
  19. snap — to click
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — for paper
  23. tear — to rip
  24. clip — a video

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