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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. I'll take my ________________ from you.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. drill — the tool
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — for paper
  5. drill — army training
  6. land — ground
  7. march — the month
  8. cue — a signal
  9. staff — employees
  10. clip — to cut
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. march — the month
  13. drill — a practice
  14. cue — for pool
  15. staff — a stick
  16. clip — a video
  17. land — a country
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. staff — employees
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. march — music
  24. cue — a hint

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