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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. pop — soda
  3. rest — what's left
  4. game — a match
  5. rest — what's left
  6. game — wild animals
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. squash — to crush
  11. pop — to visit
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. scale — size or range
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. squash — the sport
  17. pop — music
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. clip — for paper
  20. wind — moving air
  21. scale — in music
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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