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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. march — music
  3. shower — rain
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. hand — in cards
  6. shower — to wash
  7. prune — to trim
  8. drill — a practice
  9. clip — a video
  10. drill — army training
  11. march — the month
  12. clip — for paper
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. drill — the tool
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. rash — hasty
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. march — the month
  21. hand — help
  22. wake — a trail
  23. rash — a series
  24. prune — to trim

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