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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. spring — of water
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. scale — in music
  6. scale — size or range
  7. cue — for pool
  8. cue — a signal
  9. bark — to shout
  10. cue — a hint
  11. march — the month
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. spring — the season
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. clip — for paper
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. march — music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. march — the month

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