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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: clip · pitcher · cap · ground · mate · toast · hand · game

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  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. game — a kind of play
  2. clip — a video
  3. hand — help
  4. cap — a hat
  5. game — wild animals
  6. mate — a partner
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. cap — of ice
  9. toast — bread
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. ground — crushed
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. mate — to breed
  15. mate — a friend
  16. clip — for paper
  17. hand — in cards
  18. game — a match
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — the earth
  23. cap — a lid
  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