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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 116 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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. kid — child
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. drill — a practice
  5. land — to come down
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. last — to go on
  8. kid — to tease
  9. safe — a strongbox
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. drill — army training
  13. wax — to grow
  14. land — a country
  15. last — final
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. kick — in football
  23. clip — a video
  24. last — finally

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