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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. chip — to eat
  3. clip — a video
  4. suit — to fit
  5. clip — to cut
  6. spring — a coil
  7. hand — help
  8. spring — the season
  9. saw — the tool
  10. foot — a measure
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. suit — in cards
  14. suit — clothes
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. clip — for paper
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. saw — the tool
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chip — for betting
  24. hand — in cards

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