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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. rash — hasty
  3. track — to keep track
  4. clip — a video
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. clip — to cut
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. clip — for paper
  14. dip — to sink
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. scale — size or range
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a line
  20. track — a path
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. scale — in music
  23. rash — a series
  24. branch — a division

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