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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 116 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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. clip — to cut
  4. swing — music
  5. bear — the animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. file — a document
  9. swing — in golf
  10. land — ground
  11. march — music
  12. march — the month
  13. file — a line of people
  14. clip — a video
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. land — a country
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. bear — the animal
  20. bear — to put up with
  21. swing — to play on
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. nail — for a hammer

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