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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. snap — to click
  3. ball — a great time
  4. toast — bread
  5. saw — the tool
  6. clip — for paper
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. staff — a stick
  9. row — to paddle
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. clip — a video
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. staff — employees
  18. staff — employees
  19. clip — to cut
  20. toast — the most admired
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. row — a line
  24. saw — the tool

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