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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. clip — for paper
  3. staff — employees
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. clip — to cut
  6. bear — the animal
  7. race — the arms race
  8. bear — the animal
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wound — an injury
  11. ground — the earth
  12. race — humankind
  13. staff — a stick
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chest — a box
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. chest — of your body
  21. staff — employees
  22. ground — a position
  23. race — a contest
  24. clip — a video

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