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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. clip — a video
  3. game — wild animals
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. clip — for paper
  6. game — a match
  7. pop — to visit
  8. net — for catching
  9. spell — a short time
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. net — after costs
  12. pop — soda
  13. squash — to crush
  14. spell — letters
  15. clip — to cut
  16. net — in sport
  17. wake — a trail
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. bear — the animal
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. bear — the animal
  23. pop — music
  24. spell — magic

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