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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. land — to come down
  3. clip — to cut
  4. saw — the tool
  5. march — the month
  6. land — ground
  7. clip — a video
  8. march — the month
  9. clip — for paper
  10. kid — to tease
  11. band — a ring
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. stand — to bear
  19. land — a country
  20. march — music
  21. band — a music group
  22. saw — the tool
  23. kid — child
  24. band — a rubber band

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