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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. hand — help
  3. drill — a practice
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. mine — for digging
  6. board — a committee
  7. game — a match
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. hand — in cards
  10. drill — the tool
  11. clip — a video
  12. prune — to trim
  13. clip — for paper
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. pit — in a race
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. drill — army training
  18. prune — to trim
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. pit — a hole
  22. game — wild animals
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. board — to get on

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