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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. When will it ________________ you to start?
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. row — a line
  3. game — a match
  4. fall — the season
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. fall — to drop
  7. suit — to fit
  8. spring — of water
  9. degree — from a university
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. fall — to drop
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. suit — in cards
  14. spring — a coil
  15. band — a music group
  16. degree — an amount
  17. degree — temperature
  18. clip — a video
  19. spring — the season
  20. clip — to cut
  21. suit — clothes
  22. game — wild animals
  23. row — to paddle
  24. band — a ring

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