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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. When will it ________________ you to start?
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. saw — the tool
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. bass — the fish
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. suit — to fit
  7. sharp — clever
  8. clip — for paper
  9. band — a music group
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. saw — the tool
  12. cold — not warm
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. field — a subject
  15. field — farmland
  16. cold — an illness
  17. field — for sport
  18. bass — low music
  19. suit — clothes
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. band — a ring
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. suit — in cards
  24. clip — a video

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