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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. hand — help
  4. net — for catching
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. net — in sport
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. clip — for paper
  9. last — final
  10. last — finally
  11. last — to go on
  12. clip — a video
  13. prune — to trim
  14. rule — a law
  15. net — after costs
  16. prune — to trim
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. clip — to cut
  19. game — a match
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. dip — to sink
  22. game — wild animals
  23. rule — government
  24. hand — in cards

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