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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bat — the animal
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. spring — of water
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. spring — a coil
  9. clip — for paper
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. race — a contest
  12. spring — the season
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. date — the fruit
  16. game — wild animals
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. plane — a tool
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. race — the arms race
  21. race — humankind
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — a match
  24. date — on the calendar

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