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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. chest — of your body
  3. band — a ring
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. row — a line
  6. fall — to drop
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. fall — to drop
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — to trim
  12. rash — a series
  13. rash — hasty
  14. clip — for paper
  15. band — a music group
  16. fall — the season
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wake — a trail
  20. clip — to cut
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. row — to paddle
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. prune — the fruit

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