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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. rash — hasty
  3. bat — the animal
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. game — wild animals
  6. clip — to cut
  7. rest — what's left
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — a match
  10. rest — a break
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. rash — a series
  15. clip — a video
  16. saw — the tool
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. pound — a weight
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. rest — what's left

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