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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. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. drill — a practice
  3. spring — a coil
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. bark — to shout
  7. drill — the tool
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — for paper
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a line
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. clip — to cut
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. spring — the season
  17. bass — the fish
  18. spring — of water
  19. racket — a loud noise
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. bass — low music
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. march — the month

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