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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. last — to go on
  4. wind — moving air
  5. last — final
  6. root — the cause
  7. root — of a word
  8. last — finally
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. rule — government
  11. game — wild animals
  12. rule — a law
  13. root — of a plant
  14. row — to paddle
  15. clip — a video
  16. pound — a weight
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. wind — moving air
  19. game — a match
  20. clip — for paper
  21. row — a line
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. game — a kind of play

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