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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. rush — hurry
  3. sharp — clever
  4. present — the time now
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wind — moving air
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. wind — moving air
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. mine — for digging
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. present — a gift
  22. clip — a video
  23. wound — an injury
  24. plane — a tool

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