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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: land · plane · band · wound · kick · ground · pit · clip

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  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. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. land — ground
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. land — a country
  5. pit — in a race
  6. band — a ring
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. wound — an injury
  9. clip — to cut
  10. kick — in football
  11. land — to come down
  12. clip — for paper
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. ground — crushed
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. pit — a hole
  19. plane — a tool
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. ground — a position
  22. band — a music group
  23. ground — the earth
  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