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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. file — a document
  4. march — the month
  5. fine — all right
  6. file — a line of people
  7. land — a country
  8. land — to come down
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. march — the month
  14. march — music
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. fine — high quality
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. file — a tool
  21. fork — in a road
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. fork — to eat with

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