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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. ball — a great time
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. file — a tool
  5. ball — a dance
  6. clip — for paper
  7. rest — what's left
  8. clip — to cut
  9. chest — of your body
  10. clip — a video
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. file — a line of people
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. rest — a break
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. chest — of your body
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. chest — a box
  20. file — a document
  21. mine — for digging
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. rest — what's left
  24. ball — a round shape

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