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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 116 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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. row — a line
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — to cut
  5. board — a committee
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. prune — to trim
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wind — moving air
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. swing — to play on
  15. game — wild animals
  16. swing — in golf
  17. swing — music
  18. game — a match
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. row — to paddle
  22. board — to get on
  23. wind — moving air
  24. clip — for paper

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