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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. spell — a short time
  3. cold — an illness
  4. pop — music
  5. lean — thin
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. pop — to visit
  8. saw — the tool
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. clip — a video
  12. spell — magic
  13. cold — not warm
  14. clip — for paper
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. bat — the animal
  17. clip — to cut
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. lean — to bend
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spell — letters
  24. saw — the tool

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