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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. land — ground
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. land — a country
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — a video
  8. cell — a phone
  9. clip — to cut
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. present — there
  12. kid — to tease
  13. track — a song
  14. cell — in biology
  15. land — to come down
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. game — wild animals
  19. sharp — clever
  20. track — a path
  21. kid — child
  22. track — to keep track
  23. present — a gift
  24. present — the time now

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