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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. clip — a video
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. tube — the underground
  6. tube — a container
  7. clip — to cut
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. land — to come down
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bat — the animal
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. clip — for paper
  17. land — ground
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. land — a country
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. pitcher — a jug

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