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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. rash — hasty
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. branch — a division
  5. hand — in cards
  6. spell — a short time
  7. rule — a law
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. rule — government
  12. rock — a stone
  13. rock — music
  14. spell — letters
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. rash — a series
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. spell — magic
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. clip — for paper
  24. branch — of a bank

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