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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 116 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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. club — for golf
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. object — a thing
  7. club — a group
  8. tear — to rip
  9. object — an aim
  10. object — to protest
  11. ground — a position
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. ground — crushed
  14. tear — from crying
  15. saw — the tool
  16. shower — to wash
  17. saw — the tool
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. club — for dancing
  20. hand — help
  21. hand — in cards
  22. shower — rain
  23. ground — the earth
  24. tear — from crying

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