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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. That was ________________ to happen.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. clip — to cut
  3. object — to protest
  4. object — a thing
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. clip — a video
  7. object — an aim
  8. drill — a practice
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. bound — tied together
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. march — the month
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — army training
  16. bound — obliged
  17. march — music
  18. branch — a division
  19. kick — in football
  20. march — the month
  21. bound — certain
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. clip — for paper

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