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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. game — a match
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. game — wild animals
  7. club — for golf
  8. rash — a series
  9. march — the month
  10. club — for dancing
  11. cold — not warm
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. club — a group
  16. rush — hurry
  17. march — music
  18. ball — a dance
  19. clip — a video
  20. ball — a great time
  21. march — the month
  22. cold — an illness
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. rash — hasty

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