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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. land — a country
  3. last — finally
  4. last — final
  5. land — to come down
  6. march — the month
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. land — ground
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bass — low music
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. last — to go on
  24. bass — the fish

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