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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 120 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 spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a skill
  2. clip — to cut
  3. clip — a video
  4. bound — obliged
  5. cell — a phone
  6. swing — in golf
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cell — in biology
  9. swing — to play on
  10. march — the month
  11. bound — tied together
  12. swing — music
  13. march — music
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. craft — boats
  16. march — the month
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wax — to grow
  19. bat — the animal
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. bound — certain
  24. cell — in a prison

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