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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. net — in sport
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. rash — a series
  5. spring — the season
  6. clip — a video
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. net — after costs
  9. band — a music group
  10. spring — a coil
  11. game — a match
  12. band — a ring
  13. clip — for paper
  14. net — for catching
  15. spring — of water
  16. snap — to click
  17. game — wild animals
  18. rash — hasty
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bear — the animal
  23. bear — the animal
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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