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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. scale — size or range
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. clip — for paper
  7. wax — to grow
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. file — a line of people
  10. clip — to cut
  11. band — a music group
  12. scale — in music
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. file — a tool
  15. band — a ring
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. roll — a list
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. file — a document
  24. roll — a cake

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