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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. mark — a grade
  4. key — the most important part
  5. clip — to cut
  6. mark — a trace
  7. key — in music
  8. bass — the fish
  9. key — for a lock
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a line of people
  13. clip — a video
  14. bass — low music
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. file — a tool
  17. cue — a hint
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. clip — for paper
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cue — a signal
  23. file — a document
  24. cue — for pool

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