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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 116 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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. wound — an injury
  3. staff — a stick
  4. drill — army training
  5. land — to come down
  6. staff — employees
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. clip — for paper
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. wake — a trail
  17. clip — to cut
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. hand — help
  21. drill — the tool
  22. staff — employees
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. hand — in cards

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