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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pop — music
  3. face — to point toward
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. bat — the animal
  7. spell — letters
  8. pop — soda
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. clip — a video
  11. face — to confront
  12. spell — a short time
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. face — part of the head
  17. spring — of water
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. spell — magic
  21. pop — to visit
  22. spring — a coil
  23. mine — for digging
  24. spring — the season

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