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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. clip — a video
  3. saw — the tool
  4. squash — to crush
  5. march — the month
  6. march — the month
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. chair — a leader
  10. march — music
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. face — to confront
  14. face — to point toward
  15. face — part of the head
  16. clip — to cut
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. game — wild animals
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. saw — the tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. game — a match

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