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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. band — a music group
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. snap — to click
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ball — a great time
  9. clip — to cut
  10. ground — a position
  11. clip — a video
  12. march — the month
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. lie — to recline
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. march — music
  17. sharp — clever
  18. ground — the earth
  19. clip — for paper
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. march — the month
  23. ground — crushed
  24. band — a rubber band

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