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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 124 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 belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. clip — a video
  3. foot — a measure
  4. plane — a tool
  5. club — for dancing
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. clip — for paper
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. wake — a trail
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. clip — to cut
  22. club — for golf
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wake — before a funeral

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