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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. season — to add flavour
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. clip — for paper
  5. vault — a safe
  6. season — of the year
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. clip — to cut
  9. sharp — clever
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. wind — moving air
  13. season — in sport
  14. present — the time now
  15. tear — to rip
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. present — there
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. tear — from crying
  21. clip — a video
  22. present — a gift
  23. wind — moving air
  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