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

Word bank: pass · clip · fork · bowl · bat · hand · content · wind

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pass — a permit
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. clip — a video
  10. content — the amount
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. hand — help
  13. content — happy
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. fork — in a road

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