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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 120 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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. land — to come down
  3. clip — for paper
  4. ball — a great time
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. spring — of water
  7. ball — a dance
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. land — ground
  12. fall — to drop
  13. spring — a coil
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. land — a country
  16. plane — a tool
  17. scale — in music
  18. wave — of the sea
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. spring — the season
  21. fall — the season
  22. fall — to drop
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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