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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. can — a tin
  3. ground — a position
  4. ground — the earth
  5. ground — crushed
  6. club — for dancing
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. chest — of your body
  9. clip — to cut
  10. snap — to click
  11. chest — a box
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. chest — of your body
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. club — a group
  16. club — for golf
  17. rule — a law
  18. can — to be able to
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. rule — government
  21. can — a tin
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  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