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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. We're almost out of ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. tube — the underground
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. track — a song
  5. pop — music
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rash — hasty
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. rash — a series
  12. march — the month
  13. clip — to cut
  14. chair — a leader
  15. track — to keep track
  16. march — the month
  17. row — a line
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. clip — for paper
  20. march — music
  21. pop — to visit
  22. tube — a container
  23. pop — soda
  24. clip — a video

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