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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  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. clip — to cut
  2. stand — to bear
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. ground — a position
  6. clip — a video
  7. tube — a container
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. hand — in cards
  10. spring — of water
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. hand — help
  13. tube — the underground
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spring — the season
  16. ground — crushed
  17. spring — a coil
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. ground — the earth
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. kid — to tease
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  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