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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. scale — size or range
  3. land — ground
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. scale — in music
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. prune — to trim
  11. clip — for paper
  12. row — a line
  13. clip — to cut
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. snap — to click
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. land — a country
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. row — to paddle
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. clip — a video
  24. mouse — for a computer

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