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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a match
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. clip — a video
  7. object — to protest
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. shower — to wash
  11. fork — in a road
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wound — an injury
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. object — a thing
  17. wind — moving air
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. object — an aim
  22. shower — rain
  23. wound — an injury
  24. dip — to sink

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