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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. pit — in a race
  3. march — the month
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. land — a country
  6. land — ground
  7. squash — to crush
  8. dip — to sink
  9. pit — a hole
  10. season — in sport
  11. clip — a video
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. march — the month
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. squash — the sport
  17. clip — for paper
  18. bat — the animal
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. march — music
  23. land — to come down
  24. season — of the year

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