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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. saw — the tool
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. clip — a video
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. pop — to visit
  7. bat — the animal
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pop — soda
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — to crush
  12. saw — the tool
  13. clip — to cut
  14. game — a match
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. cell — in biology
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. fork — in a road
  19. cell — a phone
  20. game — wild animals
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. pop — music

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