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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. clip — for paper
  3. cue — a signal
  4. ground — the earth
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. bound — certain
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. bound — obliged
  11. cue — a hint
  12. bound — tied together
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. ground — a position
  16. mine — for digging
  17. ground — crushed
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. cue — for pool
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — a weight
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. clip — a video

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