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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. clip — to cut
  4. craft — a skill
  5. land — ground
  6. cell — a phone
  7. land — to come down
  8. pit — in a race
  9. race — humankind
  10. clip — a video
  11. march — music
  12. march — the month
  13. pit — a hole
  14. pass — a permit
  15. race — a contest
  16. race — the arms race
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. march — the month
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. pit — a fruit stone
  22. cell — in biology
  23. craft — boats
  24. land — a country

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