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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 116 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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cell — in biology
  4. row — to paddle
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. march — the month
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. tear — from crying
  11. row — a line
  12. chair — a leader
  13. tear — to rip
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. march — music
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — a phone
  19. fork — in a road
  20. clip — for paper
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. march — the month
  24. chair — to sit on

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