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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. kid — to tease
  3. clip — to cut
  4. can — to be able to
  5. kid — child
  6. cell — in biology
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rash — hasty
  10. spring — the season
  11. cell — a phone
  12. spring — a coil
  13. can — a tin
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. march — the month
  16. spring — of water
  17. can — a tin
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. march — music
  22. rash — a series
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. coach — a trainer

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