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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. row — a line
  3. march — music
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — to paddle
  6. mate — a friend
  7. clip — a video
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. land — to come down
  10. march — the month
  11. mate — a partner
  12. land — a country
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. mate — to breed
  16. band — a music group
  17. clip — for paper
  18. spell — magic
  19. land — ground
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. band — a ring
  22. spell — a short time
  23. clip — to cut
  24. march — the month

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