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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. mine — for digging
  3. wound — an injury
  4. pitch — completely
  5. land — a country
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. snap — to click
  8. bound — tied together
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. craft — a skill
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. clip — a video
  13. land — ground
  14. craft — boats
  15. clip — for paper
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bound — obliged
  21. land — to come down
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bound — certain

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