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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. march — the month
  3. band — a music group
  4. tube — a container
  5. clip — for paper
  6. track — a path
  7. band — a ring
  8. land — to come down
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. scale — in music
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. deal — to handle
  13. march — music
  14. land — a country
  15. land — ground
  16. clip — a video
  17. track — a song
  18. track — to keep track
  19. march — the month
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. scale — size or range
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. tube — the underground
  24. clip — to cut

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