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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. scale — size or range
  5. cap — a hat
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. wake — a trail
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. scale — in music
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. mine — for digging
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. cap — of ice
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. cap — a lid
  24. mine — belonging to me

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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