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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. chest — a box
  3. bass — low music
  4. clip — a video
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. hand — help
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — for paper
  9. snap — to click
  10. chest — of your body
  11. present — there
  12. march — music
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. chest — of your body
  15. fine — high quality
  16. fine — all right
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. march — the month
  19. bass — the fish
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. march — the month
  23. present — the time now
  24. hand — in cards

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