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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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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. The ________________ took off on time.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. plane — an aircraft
  2. band — a music group
  3. land — ground
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — letters
  6. clip — a video
  7. prune — to trim
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — crushed
  11. march — music
  12. clip — to cut
  13. land — a country
  14. land — to come down
  15. prune — to trim
  16. spell — magic
  17. plane — a tool
  18. ground — the earth
  19. clip — for paper
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. march — the month
  23. band — a ring
  24. march — the month

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