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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. ball — a dance
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. ball — a great time
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — humankind
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. branch — a division
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. kid — to tease
  12. clip — for paper
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. march — the month
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. kid — child
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cap — a lid
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cap — of ice
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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