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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. clip — a video
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. chest — a box
  6. last — to go on
  7. charge — a price
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bat — the animal
  11. last — finally
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. charge — in control
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. kid — child
  16. bulb — for light
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. charge — electricity
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. last — final

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