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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. cell — in biology
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. scale — size or range
  5. club — for golf
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. file — a tool
  11. season — in sport
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. dip — to sink
  14. cell — a phone
  15. branch — a division
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. club — for dancing
  19. file — a line of people
  20. scale — in music
  21. file — a document
  22. club — a group
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. clip — a video

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