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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cell — a phone
  3. kick — in football
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. can — to be able to
  6. can — a tin
  7. band — a ring
  8. bore — to drill
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. dip — to sink
  13. can — a tin
  14. game — a match
  15. clip — to cut
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a music group
  18. bore — to tire
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. clip — a video
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. cell — in biology
  24. kick — with a leg

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