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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 120 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. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cell — in biology
  7. spring — a coil
  8. mate — to breed
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. spring — the season
  11. chair — a leader
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spring — of water
  16. clip — a video
  17. mate — a partner
  18. bat — the animal
  19. mate — a friend
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bowl — a football final

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