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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. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pound — a weight
  3. stem — to come from
  4. saw — the tool
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. clip — a video
  11. mine — for digging
  12. clip — to cut
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. saw — the tool
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. clip — for paper
  21. hand — in cards
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. hand — help

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