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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. mate — to breed
  3. march — the month
  4. sharp — clever
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. track — to keep track
  7. march — music
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. track — a song
  10. clip — a video
  11. mate — a friend
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. can — to be able to
  14. can — a tin
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. bat — the animal
  18. march — the month
  19. clip — to cut
  20. mate — a partner
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. can — a tin
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — for paper

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