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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. last — finally
  3. march — music
  4. season — of the year
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. clip — for paper
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. clip — to cut
  12. press — newspapers
  13. field — for sport
  14. press — to push
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. last — to go on
  20. field — farmland
  21. season — in sport
  22. field — a subject
  23. press — a publisher
  24. last — final

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