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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. chip — to eat
  3. track — to keep track
  4. snap — to click
  5. clip — a video
  6. cell — a phone
  7. pop — to visit
  8. bass — the fish
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. chip — for betting
  11. pop — music
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. bass — low music
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. clip — for paper
  16. track — a path
  17. track — a song
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bark — to shout
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chip — in a computer

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