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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. spell — magic
  3. bat — the animal
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. plane — a tool
  6. land — ground
  7. land — to come down
  8. track — a song
  9. hand — in cards
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. track — to keep track
  12. clip — for paper
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. clip — to cut
  15. craft — boats
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. track — a path
  18. land — a country
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — letters
  22. hand — help
  23. craft — a skill
  24. plane — in geometry

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