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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. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — in cards
  2. suit — to fit
  3. clip — to cut
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. plane — a tool
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. clip — for paper
  9. shower — to wash
  10. march — the month
  11. mine — for digging
  12. suit — clothes
  13. shower — rain
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. clip — a video
  18. pound — a weight
  19. march — the month
  20. march — music
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. pound — for dogs

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