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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. mate — to breed
  7. clip — to cut
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. mate — a partner
  10. clip — a video
  11. file — a line of people
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. bore — to tire
  15. bore — to drill
  16. mate — a friend
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. file — a document
  22. sharp — clever
  23. file — a tool
  24. sharp — exactly

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