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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. clip — to cut
  5. drill — the tool
  6. season — in sport
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. tube — the underground
  9. drill — a practice
  10. row — a line
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. clip — a video
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. drill — army training
  15. tube — a container
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. rash — a series
  18. row — to paddle
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. season — of the year
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. wake — a trail
  23. pound — a weight
  24. rash — hasty

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