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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. prune — to trim
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. clip — a video
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. kid — child
  11. cue — a hint
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. wound — an injury
  14. kid — to tease
  15. cue — for pool
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wound — an injury
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. prune — to trim
  21. shower — rain
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. mine — for digging
  24. cue — a signal

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