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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. clip — a video
  3. club — a group
  4. clip — for paper
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. file — a tool
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. file — a document
  10. wake — a trail
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. tube — a container
  13. club — for dancing
  14. clip — to cut
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. prune — to trim
  17. kid — to tease
  18. prune — to trim
  19. club — for golf
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. tube — the underground
  23. file — a line of people
  24. kid — child

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