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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 116 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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bass — the fish
  4. saw — the tool
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. rash — a series
  9. file — a tool
  10. march — the month
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. saw — the tool
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. rash — hasty
  15. file — a line of people
  16. clip — for paper
  17. wound — an injury
  18. file — a document
  19. pound — a weight
  20. bass — low music
  21. march — music
  22. march — the month
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rash — on the skin

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