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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. season — of the year
  3. clip — for paper
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. bat — the animal
  6. march — the month
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. march — the month
  9. file — a document
  10. branch — a division
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. mug — a face
  13. mug — a cup
  14. mug — to rob
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. file — a tool
  18. clip — a video
  19. clip — to cut
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. file — a line of people
  24. march — music

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