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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. march — music
  3. bat — the animal
  4. clip — for paper
  5. march — the month
  6. march — the month
  7. clip — a video
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. ball — a dance
  12. bass — low music
  13. clip — to cut
  14. jam — in traffic
  15. scale — in music
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. ball — a great time
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. scale — size or range
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. bass — the fish
  23. kick — a thrill
  24. kick — in football

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