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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. drill — army training
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. game — a match
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. game — wild animals
  10. march — the month
  11. march — music
  12. clip — to cut
  13. row — to paddle
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — a video
  16. drill — the tool
  17. craft — a skill
  18. drill — a practice
  19. craft — boats
  20. march — the month
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. saw — the tool
  23. clip — for paper
  24. row — a line

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