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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. roll — a cake
  6. clip — for paper
  7. band — a ring
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — a video
  11. scale — in music
  12. roll — a list
  13. clip — to cut
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. rule — a law
  16. band — a music group
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. sharp — clever
  21. cold — an illness
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. scale — size or range
  24. rule — government

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