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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. spell — letters
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. object — an aim
  6. suit — clothes
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rush — hurry
  10. object — to protest
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. object — a thing
  13. spell — magic
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — a video
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. spell — a short time
  18. mine — for digging
  19. suit — in cards
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. suit — to fit
  22. bat — the animal
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bat — in an idiom

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