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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. row — a line
  3. pop — music
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. bound — tied together
  6. pop — soda
  7. chest — of your body
  8. object — a thing
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. chest — a box
  11. row — to paddle
  12. object — to protest
  13. sharp — clever
  14. object — an aim
  15. bound — certain
  16. game — a match
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — for paper
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bound — obliged
  22. chest — of your body
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. pop — to visit

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