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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. clip — to cut
  3. roll — a cake
  4. spring — the season
  5. race — humankind
  6. clip — a video
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. band — a music group
  11. chest — of your body
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. spring — of water
  15. clip — for paper
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. race — the arms race
  20. kick — in football
  21. chest — of your body
  22. race — a contest
  23. chest — a box
  24. spring — a coil

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