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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. pop — soda
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wind — moving air
  5. cell — a phone
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — to visit
  8. fine — high quality
  9. wind — moving air
  10. clip — for paper
  11. present — the time now
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. present — there
  15. present — a gift
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. clip — to cut
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. bay — to keep at bay
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — in biology
  23. fine — all right
  24. clip — a video

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