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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. net — after costs
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spring — of water
  6. hand — help
  7. present — there
  8. present — a gift
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. clip — a video
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. spring — the season
  15. clip — for paper
  16. net — for catching
  17. pound — a weight
  18. spring — a coil
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. net — in sport
  22. present — the time now
  23. hand — in cards
  24. clip — to cut

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