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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. clip — for paper
  3. rash — hasty
  4. scale — size or range
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. rash — a series
  9. spell — magic
  10. clip — a video
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. snap — to click
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. spell — letters
  16. scale — in music
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. row — to paddle
  20. spell — a short time
  21. row — a line
  22. kid — to tease
  23. kid — child
  24. clip — to cut

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