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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. sharp — clever
  3. march — the month
  4. rash — hasty
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. wake — a trail
  7. scale — in music
  8. march — music
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. rash — a series
  12. clip — to cut
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. clip — a video
  15. file — a line of people
  16. scale — size or range
  17. file — a document
  18. clip — for paper
  19. file — a tool
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. pass — a permit
  22. march — the month
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. pass — to spend time

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