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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 120 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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. land — ground
  3. rest — a break
  4. plane — a tool
  5. hand — help
  6. clip — for paper
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. clip — a video
  10. kid — child
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. clip — to cut
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cell — a phone
  15. kid — to tease
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. scale — size or range
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. scale — in music
  23. cell — in biology
  24. scale — for weighing

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