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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 would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. mate — to breed
  3. clip — for paper
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. chair — a leader
  7. object — an aim
  8. mate — a partner
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. mark — a trace
  11. clip — a video
  12. row — a line
  13. land — ground
  14. mark — a grade
  15. object — a thing
  16. row — to paddle
  17. land — a country
  18. mate — a friend
  19. clip — to cut
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. snap — to click
  24. land — to come down

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