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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. band — a ring
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. band — a music group
  5. bound — tied together
  6. clip — a video
  7. bound — certain
  8. land — to come down
  9. bound — obliged
  10. object — an aim
  11. pass — a permit
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. clip — to cut
  17. land — a country
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. land — ground
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. clip — for paper
  23. object — a thing
  24. mine — for digging

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