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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. prune — to trim
  3. clip — to cut
  4. prune — to trim
  5. file — a line of people
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. march — the month
  9. land — ground
  10. march — music
  11. land — a country
  12. file — a tool
  13. land — to come down
  14. march — the month
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. file — a document
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. clip — for paper
  19. perch — the fish
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. perch — for a bird

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