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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: object · row · clip · mouse · cell · ground · land · stick

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. cell — a phone
  4. ground — the earth
  5. ground — crushed
  6. clip — a video
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. clip — for paper
  9. object — an aim
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. land — a country
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. object — a thing
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. row — a line
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. ground — a position
  22. row — to paddle
  23. cell — in biology
  24. clip — to cut

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