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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. march — the month
  4. band — a ring
  5. clip — to cut
  6. march — music
  7. clip — a video
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. cap — a hat
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. cap — of ice
  12. march — the month
  13. cap — a lid
  14. cold — an illness
  15. band — a music group
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. saw — the tool
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. cold — not warm

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