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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. clip — a video
  3. court — for sport
  4. spell — letters
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. march — the month
  7. bass — low music
  8. track — a song
  9. last — finally
  10. last — to go on
  11. clip — to cut
  12. track — to keep track
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. stand — to bear
  16. march — the month
  17. court — of law
  18. track — a path
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bass — the fish
  21. spell — magic
  22. march — music
  23. spell — a short time
  24. court — of a king

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