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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. dip — to sink
  4. spell — a short time
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. tear — from crying
  7. spell — letters
  8. land — to come down
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. spell — magic
  11. tear — to rip
  12. spring — the season
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — to drop
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. land — ground
  20. fall — the season
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — of water
  23. land — a country
  24. tear — from crying

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