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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 116 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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. saw — the tool
  3. clip — for paper
  4. march — the month
  5. saw — the tool
  6. clip — a video
  7. last — final
  8. march — the month
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. fork — in a road
  11. band — a ring
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. drill — the tool
  14. march — music
  15. drill — army training
  16. band — a music group
  17. rush — hurry
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. clip — to cut
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. last — finally
  24. drill — a practice

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