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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. file — a line of people
  3. club — for golf
  4. clip — for paper
  5. club — a group
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. clip — a video
  8. kid — to tease
  9. file — a document
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. file — a tool
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. spring — the season
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spring — of water
  20. scale — size or range
  21. scale — in music
  22. bay — a part of the sea
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. club — for dancing

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