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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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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: wind · last · ground · band · key · pit · clip · game

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. key — for a lock
  3. wind — moving air
  4. last — to go on
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. ground — crushed
  7. band — a ring
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. ground — the earth
  11. wind — moving air
  12. band — a music group
  13. clip — for paper
  14. pit — in a race
  15. last — finally
  16. key — the most important part
  17. pit — a hole
  18. ground — a position
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — a video
  21. game — wild animals
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. key — in music
  24. last — final

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