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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. stock — goods
  3. bay — to keep at bay
  4. field — for sport
  5. clip — to cut
  6. spell — magic
  7. stock — shares
  8. clip — for paper
  9. spell — letters
  10. prune — to trim
  11. file — a tool
  12. field — farmland
  13. bay — a part of the sea
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. field — a subject
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. prune — to trim
  20. spell — a short time
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a line of people
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. bay — a horse colour

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