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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 120 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 will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. clip — to cut
  4. fall — to drop
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. band — a ring
  8. band — a music group
  9. fall — the season
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. march — music
  13. fall — to drop
  14. prune — to trim
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — humankind
  17. mine — for digging
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. prune — to trim
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. clip — a video
  23. deal — to handle
  24. race — a contest

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