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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. game — a match
  3. rash — hasty
  4. clip — for paper
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. march — the month
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. clip — a video
  10. tube — a container
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. tube — the underground
  14. march — the month
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. cell — a phone
  20. clip — to cut
  21. rash — a series
  22. game — wild animals
  23. cell — in biology
  24. straw — dry grass

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