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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. lie — to recline
  3. spell — magic
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bound — certain
  6. chest — a box
  7. object — to protest
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spell — a short time
  10. present — the time now
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. spell — letters
  13. clip — a video
  14. chest — of your body
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — tied together
  18. clip — for paper
  19. present — there
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. object — an aim
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. object — a thing
  24. kick — in football

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