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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 was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. clip — for paper
  3. snap — to click
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. clip — to cut
  7. scale — in music
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. clip — a video
  13. land — to come down
  14. last — final
  15. land — ground
  16. foot — a measure
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. last — to go on
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. scale — size or range
  21. land — a country
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. last — finally
  24. foot — part of the body

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