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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: pit · clip · present · bat · roll · sharp · drill · spring

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. pit — in a race
  3. spring — the season
  4. bat — the animal
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. drill — the tool
  7. roll — a cake
  8. spring — a coil
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. sharp — clever
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. roll — a list
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. drill — army training
  16. spring — of water
  17. clip — to cut
  18. clip — for paper
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. pit — a hole
  21. clip — a video
  22. present — the time now
  23. present — a gift
  24. drill — a practice

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