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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 124 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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. kid — to tease
  3. clip — a video
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — wild animals
  6. scale — size or range
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — to cut
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. hand — help
  12. staff — employees
  13. march — the month
  14. kid — child
  15. hand — in cards
  16. staff — a stick
  17. march — the month
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. game — a match
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. scale — in music
  22. march — music
  23. staff — employees
  24. leaves — lets stay

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