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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. bass — low music
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. clip — for paper
  6. mate — a partner
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. race — the arms race
  9. clip — to cut
  10. spell — letters
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bass — the fish
  13. spell — magic
  14. mate — to breed
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — the animal
  17. race — a contest
  18. clip — a video
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. spell — a short time
  24. race — humankind

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