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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. branch — a division
  3. march — music
  4. clip — a video
  5. court — of a king
  6. court — of law
  7. wound — an injury
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. march — the month
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. deal — to handle
  12. march — the month
  13. clip — to cut
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. clip — for paper
  16. band — a ring
  17. court — for sport
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. wound — an injury
  20. band — a music group
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — a match
  24. game — wild animals

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