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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. pop — to visit
  3. season — in sport
  4. clip — to cut
  5. track — a song
  6. mine — for digging
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. pop — music
  11. tear — from crying
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — for paper
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. snap — to click
  16. track — to keep track
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. tear — to rip
  19. season — of the year
  20. clip — a video
  21. tear — from crying
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. track — a path

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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