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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 covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. shower — to wash
  3. wake — a trail
  4. roll — a list
  5. clip — to cut
  6. shower — rain
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. clip — a video
  9. row — a line
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. ground — a position
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. ground — crushed
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. date — the fruit
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — for paper
  21. roll — a cake
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wake — before a funeral

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