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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. last — finally
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. row — to paddle
  5. clip — to cut
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. last — final
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. game — a match
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. row — a line
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. game — wild animals
  20. branch — a division
  21. wound — an injury
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. last — to go on
  24. ruler — for measuring

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