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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. mate — to breed
  3. squash — the sport
  4. mine — for digging
  5. snap — to click
  6. mate — a friend
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. saw — the tool
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — to cut
  14. last — final
  15. saw — the tool
  16. wind — moving air
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. last — to go on
  21. squash — to crush
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. mate — a partner
  24. squash — the vegetable

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