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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. charge — electricity
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — music
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. chest — of your body
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. charge — a price
  13. chest — a box
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. season — of the year
  16. march — the month
  17. scale — size or range
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. charge — in control
  21. chest — of your body
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. season — in sport
  24. scale — in music

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