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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spell · scale · can · hand · game · clip · tear · present

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. present — there
  3. tear — to rip
  4. hand — help
  5. can — a tin
  6. game — wild animals
  7. scale — in music
  8. can — to be able to
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spell — letters
  11. hand — in cards
  12. scale — size or range
  13. spell — magic
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. spell — a short time
  17. present — a gift
  18. present — the time now
  19. clip — for paper
  20. can — a tin
  21. clip — to cut
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. tear — from crying
  24. clip — a video

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