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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. object — to protest
  3. clip — for paper
  4. net — after costs
  5. wound — an injury
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. game — a match
  8. charge — electricity
  9. object — a thing
  10. band — a ring
  11. object — an aim
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. game — wild animals
  15. charge — in control
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wound — an injury
  19. deal — to handle
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. net — for catching
  22. clip — a video
  23. net — in sport
  24. charge — a price

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