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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. clip — for paper
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. rock — a stone
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. ground — the earth
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. spring — the season
  9. ground — crushed
  10. march — music
  11. pit — in a race
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. mine — for digging
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pit — a hole
  18. march — the month
  19. spring — of water
  20. wake — a trail
  21. march — the month
  22. clip — a video
  23. ground — a position
  24. wake — before a funeral

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