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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 116 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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. root — of a plant
  3. scale — size or range
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. clip — a video
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. net — for catching
  10. clip — for paper
  11. scale — in music
  12. root — the cause
  13. kid — to tease
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. net — in sport
  16. face — to point toward
  17. face — part of the head
  18. face — to confront
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. root — of a word
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. net — after costs
  23. clip — to cut
  24. kid — child

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