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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. kick — in football
  3. bound — tied together
  4. chest — of your body
  5. lie — to recline
  6. clip — a video
  7. bound — obliged
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. shower — rain
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. shower — to wash
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. clip — to cut
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. band — a music group
  19. dip — to sink
  20. bound — certain
  21. clip — for paper
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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