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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 reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — to drop
  4. clip — a video
  5. prune — to trim
  6. band — a ring
  7. clip — for paper
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. fall — the season
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bound — obliged
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. band — a music group
  16. mine — for digging
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — in sport
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bound — certain
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. season — of the year
  24. wind — moving air

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