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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pop — soda
  3. pop — to visit
  4. fine — all right
  5. clip — a video
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. spring — the season
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. kick — in football
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. staff — a stick
  15. pop — music
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. spring — of water
  20. staff — employees
  21. game — wild animals
  22. fine — high quality
  23. spring — a coil
  24. game — a match

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