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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. ground — crushed
  3. ground — a position
  4. can — a tin
  5. wake — a trail
  6. can — to be able to
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. ground — the earth
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. clip — a video
  11. scale — size or range
  12. track — a song
  13. track — to keep track
  14. kid — to tease
  15. track — a path
  16. sharp — clever
  17. scale — in music
  18. clip — to cut
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. can — a tin
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. clip — for paper

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