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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. fall — to drop
  4. mate — to breed
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — a friend
  7. land — ground
  8. land — a country
  9. file — a document
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. land — to come down
  12. cap — a hat
  13. file — a tool
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fall — to drop
  16. file — a line of people
  17. clip — for paper
  18. march — music
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. cap — a lid
  21. fall — the season
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. cap — of ice

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