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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. saw — the tool
  3. pop — music
  4. saw — the tool
  5. clip — a video
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. clip — to cut
  8. file — a line of people
  9. bass — low music
  10. present — the time now
  11. file — a tool
  12. present — a gift
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. pop — soda
  16. present — there
  17. clip — for paper
  18. branch — a division
  19. bass — the fish
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. file — a document
  24. branch — of a tree

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