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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. clip — a video
  6. spring — the season
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. rule — a law
  9. season — in sport
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. chair — a leader
  14. shower — rain
  15. rule — government
  16. spring — of water
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. plane — a tool
  20. fork — in a road
  21. clip — for paper
  22. season — of the year
  23. shower — to wash
  24. clip — to cut

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