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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 124 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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. roll — a list
  3. drill — the tool
  4. net — after costs
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. net — for catching
  7. pit — in a race
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. roll — a cake
  10. drill — a practice
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cell — in biology
  13. clip — a video
  14. game — a match
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cell — a phone
  17. ball — a dance
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pit — a hole
  20. game — wild animals
  21. drill — army training
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. ball — a great time
  24. net — in sport

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