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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. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — a video
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. present — the time now
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. mine — for digging
  10. game — wild animals
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. present — there
  14. bass — low music
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pound — a weight
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. present — a gift
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. game — a match

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