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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The King held a masked ________________.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. bound — tied together
  3. scale — size or range
  4. game — wild animals
  5. ground — crushed
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. game — a match
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. ground — a position
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. scale — in music
  12. fall — to drop
  13. ball — a dance
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. ball — a great time
  17. fall — the season
  18. fall — to drop
  19. clip — to cut
  20. leaves — of a tree
  21. ground — the earth
  22. bound — obliged
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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