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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pit — in a race
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. ground — crushed
  6. ground — the earth
  7. pit — a hole
  8. band — a ring
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. game — a match
  11. file — a document
  12. clip — for paper
  13. can — a tin
  14. file — a tool
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. clip — a video
  17. rush — hurry
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. band — a music group
  20. ground — a position
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. game — wild animals
  23. file — a line of people
  24. can — a tin

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