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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. chest — a box
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wound — an injury
  11. march — the month
  12. march — music
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — happy
  15. march — the month
  16. content — the amount
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. nail — on a finger

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