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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. fork — in a road
  9. kid — child
  10. clip — a video
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. clip — for paper
  15. net — after costs
  16. capital — money
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wind — moving air
  19. capital — a city
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. net — in sport
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. wind — moving air
  24. net — for catching

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