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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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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: chip · bear · wind · bat · last · pass · clip · present

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — to go on
  3. present — the time now
  4. last — finally
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wind — moving air
  8. chip — to eat
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. pass — a permit
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bear — the animal
  15. clip — to cut
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. bear — the animal
  18. chip — for betting
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — a video
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. present — a gift
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. present — there

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