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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bat — the animal
  3. key — the most important part
  4. game — wild animals
  5. dip — to sink
  6. ball — a dance
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. clip — for paper
  10. file — a tool
  11. ball — a great time
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. file — a document
  15. key — in music
  16. clip — a video
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. key — for a lock
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. game — a match
  24. dip — to dunk

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