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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. object — a thing
  3. mine — for digging
  4. present — a gift
  5. wound — an injury
  6. clip — to cut
  7. drill — a practice
  8. pop — to visit
  9. scale — size or range
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. object — to protest
  12. scale — in music
  13. pop — soda
  14. clip — a video
  15. wound — an injury
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. present — there
  18. object — an aim
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. pop — music
  21. present — the time now
  22. drill — army training
  23. clip — for paper
  24. scale — for weighing

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