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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. last — final
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. row — a line
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. clip — for paper
  11. race — the arms race
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. race — humankind
  14. clip — to cut
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. race — a contest
  17. season — in sport
  18. ball — a dance
  19. last — to go on
  20. season — of the year
  21. last — finally
  22. row — to paddle
  23. ball — a great time
  24. dip — to sink

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