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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. root — of a word
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. clip — a video
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. file — a document
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a tool
  15. bore — to drill
  16. rush — hurry
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bore — to tire
  20. bore — gave birth
  21. root — of a plant
  22. root — the cause
  23. wake — a trail
  24. rush — a thrill

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