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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  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. ball — a great time
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. band — a ring
  4. track — a song
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. fork — in a road
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. clip — a video
  11. game — wild animals
  12. track — to keep track
  13. board — a committee
  14. ball — a dance
  15. track — a path
  16. clip — to cut
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. board — to get on
  20. cold — not warm
  21. band — a music group
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. game — a match
  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