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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cap — of ice
  5. clip — for paper
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. scale — in music
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. scale — size or range
  13. clip — a video
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. cap — a hat
  18. rest — what's left
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. cap — a lid
  21. rest — a break
  22. kick — in football
  23. rest — what's left
  24. band — a music group

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