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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. rush — hurry
  4. cell — in biology
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. last — finally
  7. band — a ring
  8. last — to go on
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. bear — the animal
  13. kick — in football
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wound — an injury
  16. band — a music group
  17. bear — the animal
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. clip — a video
  21. cell — a phone
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. last — final
  24. wound — an injury

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