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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bore — to drill
  4. bore — to tire
  5. squash — to crush
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. clip — a video
  10. pit — a hole
  11. chest — a box
  12. clip — for paper
  13. scale — size or range
  14. chest — of your body
  15. pit — in a race
  16. chest — of your body
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. row — a line
  20. scale — for weighing
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. squash — the sport
  23. scale — in music
  24. row — to paddle

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