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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 116 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 don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bank — for money
  7. pop — music
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. file — a tool
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pitch — completely
  13. file — a document
  14. bank — for money
  15. snap — to click
  16. pop — soda
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. clip — for paper
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. tear — to rip
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. clip — a video
  23. bank — of a river
  24. file — a line of people

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