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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. present — there
  3. clip — for paper
  4. present — a gift
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. spell — letters
  7. object — an aim
  8. clip — a video
  9. saw — the tool
  10. object — a thing
  11. scale — in music
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — magic
  14. cold — not warm
  15. object — to protest
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. saw — the tool
  20. bear — the animal
  21. clip — to cut
  22. present — the time now
  23. spell — a short time
  24. scale — size or range

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