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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. race — a contest
  3. kid — child
  4. clip — to cut
  5. land — ground
  6. land — to come down
  7. clip — a video
  8. squash — to crush
  9. face — part of the head
  10. bank — for money
  11. spring — of water
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. face — to point toward
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — humankind
  16. spring — a coil
  17. land — a country
  18. squash — the sport
  19. spring — the season
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bank — for money
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bank — of a river
  24. face — to confront

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