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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 120 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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. game — a match
  3. clip — to cut
  4. snap — to click
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bound — tied together
  7. scale — size or range
  8. band — a music group
  9. cell — a phone
  10. scale — in music
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. key — for a lock
  14. bound — certain
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. key — the most important part
  17. band — a ring
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. cell — in biology
  22. game — wild animals
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. key — in music

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