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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. We're on a ________________ here.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. roll — on a roll
  3. game — a match
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. roll — a list
  6. fine — high quality
  7. clip — for paper
  8. fine — all right
  9. cold — an illness
  10. roll — a cake
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — wild animals
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. clip — a video
  16. mug — a face
  17. bat — the animal
  18. mug — a cup
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. mug — to rob
  24. bat — in an idiom

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