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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. staff — employees
  3. saw — the tool
  4. object — to protest
  5. staff — a stick
  6. mine — for digging
  7. cap — a lid
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spring — the season
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. spring — a coil
  13. spring — of water
  14. cap — of ice
  15. object — an aim
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. object — a thing
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. saw — the tool
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. staff — employees
  23. cap — a hat
  24. rock — a stone

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