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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. club — for dancing
  3. clip — a video
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — not warm
  6. charge — electricity
  7. club — a group
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. clip — for paper
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. season — of the year
  13. club — for golf
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pitch — completely
  18. bass — low music
  19. charge — a price
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. charge — in control
  22. season — in sport
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. bass — the fish

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