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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. mate — a partner
  3. shower — to wash
  4. mate — to breed
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. clip — to cut
  7. charge — electricity
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. kid — child
  10. charge — in control
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. file — a line of people
  13. charge — a price
  14. rash — a series
  15. clip — for paper
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. kid — to tease
  18. rash — hasty
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. file — a document
  22. mate — a friend
  23. shower — rain
  24. file — a tool

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