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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. season — in sport
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. clip — to cut
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. clip — a video
  8. rash — hasty
  9. clip — for paper
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pass — a permit
  12. prune — to trim
  13. rash — a series
  14. season — of the year
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wound — an injury
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. track — a path
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. track — to keep track
  23. track — a song
  24. season — to add flavour

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