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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. rush — hurry
  6. clip — for paper
  7. squash — the sport
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. squash — to crush
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. rule — a law
  17. kid — to tease
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. pound — a weight
  22. clip — a video
  23. stem — to come from
  24. kid — child

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