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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. last — to go on
  5. rash — a series
  6. bat — the animal
  7. last — finally
  8. wind — moving air
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. fork — in a road
  11. last — final
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. chip — to eat
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wind — moving air
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. clip — to cut
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. court — of law
  21. court — of a king
  22. clip — a video
  23. chip — for betting
  24. court — for sport

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