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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 · kid · ground · branch · game · spring · clip · sharp

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. game — a match
  3. kid — child
  4. clip — for paper
  5. sharp — clever
  6. clip — to cut
  7. ground — the earth
  8. kid — to tease
  9. branch — a division
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. pit — in a race
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — of water
  17. ground — a position
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. clip — a video
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. ground — crushed
  23. game — wild animals
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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