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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. sharp — clever
  3. chest — a box
  4. ball — a dance
  5. chest — of your body
  6. net — after costs
  7. squash — to crush
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. rash — hasty
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. net — in sport
  13. clip — to cut
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. clip — for paper
  16. chest — of your body
  17. net — for catching
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. rash — a series
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. ball — a great time
  22. squash — the sport
  23. game — wild animals
  24. game — a match

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