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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. bear — the animal
  3. scale — size or range
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. court — of law
  6. tear — from crying
  7. clip — a video
  8. court — for sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. last — to go on
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. snap — to click
  13. bear — the animal
  14. scale — in music
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. court — of a king
  17. clip — to cut
  18. last — final
  19. can — a tin
  20. can — to be able to
  21. tear — from crying
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. tear — to rip
  24. last — finally

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