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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 120 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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. rest — a break
  3. lean — to bend
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. rest — what's left
  6. pit — a hole
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. clip — for paper
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. rest — what's left
  11. lean — thin
  12. hand — in cards
  13. rule — a law
  14. hand — help
  15. clip — a video
  16. chip — to eat
  17. march — the month
  18. march — music
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. pit — in a race
  21. clip — to cut
  22. rule — government
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. chip — for betting

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