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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. clip — to cut
  3. squash — to crush
  4. foot — a measure
  5. squash — the sport
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. march — the month
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. cold — an illness
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. cold — not warm
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. march — music
  17. vault — a safe
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — for paper
  21. clip — a video
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. march — the month

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