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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. kid — to tease
  3. land — a country
  4. land — ground
  5. clip — for paper
  6. file — a tool
  7. object — an aim
  8. file — a document
  9. object — to protest
  10. clip — a video
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. rock — a stone
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. game — wild animals
  15. clip — to cut
  16. file — a line of people
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. land — to come down
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. object — a thing
  22. game — a match
  23. kid — child
  24. sharp — clever

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