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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. game — a match
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. game — wild animals
  5. chest — of your body
  6. current — of water
  7. bat — the animal
  8. current — happening now
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. chest — a box
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. sharp — clever
  14. chest — of your body
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. clip — for paper
  17. current — electric
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. dip — to sink
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. clip — to cut

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