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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. rush — hurry
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. clip — a video
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. charge — electricity
  12. clip — for paper
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. charge — in control
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. charge — a price
  19. chair — a leader
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — to trim
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. kick — in football

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