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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — to cut
  4. last — to go on
  5. bound — obliged
  6. bound — certain
  7. scale — in music
  8. clip — for paper
  9. scale — size or range
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. staff — a stick
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. bound — tied together
  14. file — a tool
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. file — a line of people
  17. kid — to tease
  18. file — a document
  19. staff — employees
  20. staff — employees
  21. last — finally
  22. snap — to click
  23. clip — a video
  24. scale — for weighing

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