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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. clip — for paper
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. swing — music
  8. pound — a weight
  9. wake — a trail
  10. swing — in golf
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. clip — a video
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — not warm
  16. swing — to play on
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. prune — to trim
  19. vault — a safe
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. cold — an illness
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. clip — to cut

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