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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. clip — a video
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. band — a ring
  6. march — the month
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. clip — for paper
  9. band — a music group
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. cap — of ice
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. cap — a hat
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. cap — a lid
  19. game — a match
  20. clip — to cut
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. game — wild animals
  24. ruler — for measuring

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