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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bass — low music
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. game — a match
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — high quality
  9. key — for a lock
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. track — a path
  12. track — a song
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. key — in music
  15. clip — a video
  16. roll — a list
  17. bass — the fish
  18. clip — for paper
  19. track — to keep track
  20. roll — a cake
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. game — wild animals
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. key — the most important part

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