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

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. march — the month
  3. hand — help
  4. clip — to cut
  5. season — of the year
  6. foot — a measure
  7. clip — for paper
  8. rash — hasty
  9. march — the month
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. march — music
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. wake — a trail
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. clip — a video
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. race — a contest
  20. race — humankind
  21. rash — a series
  22. hand — in cards
  23. race — the arms race
  24. season — in sport

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