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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. snap — to click
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. clip — a video
  5. mine — for digging
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. present — there
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. clip — for paper
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. file — a line of people
  12. land — to come down
  13. land — ground
  14. bass — the fish
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. land — a country
  19. bass — low music
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. clip — to cut
  22. present — the time now
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. present — a gift

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