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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  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. track — to keep track
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. clip — for paper
  4. roll — a list
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. track — a path
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. wind — moving air
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — rain
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. wind — moving air
  13. clip — to cut
  14. track — a song
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — for digging
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. roll — a cake
  20. pitch — completely
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. racket — for tennis
  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