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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 120 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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. rest — a break
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. ground — the earth
  7. scale — size or range
  8. scale — in music
  9. ground — crushed
  10. land — a country
  11. rest — what's left
  12. land — to come down
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a line of people
  15. spell — a short time
  16. file — a document
  17. track — a path
  18. ground — a position
  19. spell — magic
  20. file — a tool
  21. track — to keep track
  22. spell — letters
  23. track — a song
  24. land — ground

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