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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 124 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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — a measure
  2. clip — a video
  3. last — to go on
  4. spell — magic
  5. clip — to cut
  6. last — finally
  7. chest — of your body
  8. spell — a short time
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. last — final
  12. craft — a skill
  13. spell — letters
  14. craft — boats
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. clip — for paper
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. chip — to eat
  20. chest — a box
  21. wind — moving air
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. chip — for betting
  24. wind — to turn a key

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