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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. mine — for digging
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. current — happening now
  6. wound — an injury
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mark — a trace
  9. track — a song
  10. season — in sport
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. clip — a video
  14. current — of water
  15. current — electric
  16. clip — to cut
  17. mark — a grade
  18. clip — for paper
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. season — of the year
  23. wound — an injury
  24. track — to keep track

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