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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. last — finally
  3. spring — a coil
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. clip — to cut
  6. last — final
  7. clip — for paper
  8. net — for catching
  9. board — to get on
  10. spring — the season
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. net — in sport
  13. game — wild animals
  14. arm — a part of something
  15. date — the fruit
  16. spring — of water
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. board — a committee
  19. clip — a video
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. last — to go on
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. net — after costs
  24. arm — part of the body

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