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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. degree — an amount
  4. clip — to cut
  5. craft — boats
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. wind — moving air
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wind — moving air
  10. craft — a skill
  11. mine — for digging
  12. spell — a short time
  13. vault — a safe
  14. degree — from a university
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. degree — temperature
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. spell — magic
  19. ball — a great time
  20. ball — a dance
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. clip — a video
  23. spell — letters
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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