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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. season — in sport
  5. track — a song
  6. clip — a video
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. band — a music group
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. season — of the year
  14. cold — an illness
  15. track — a path
  16. band — a ring
  17. track — to keep track
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pass — a permit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. pass — to succeed

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