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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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. squash — the vegetable
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. net — after costs
  7. mine — for digging
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. vault — a safe
  14. season — in sport
  15. wake — a trail
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. race — a contest
  18. clip — a video
  19. squash — the sport
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. season — of the year
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  24. squash — to crush

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