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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. key — for a lock
  3. track — to keep track
  4. season — in sport
  5. track — a path
  6. season — of the year
  7. clip — a video
  8. wound — an injury
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bass — the fish
  13. key — in music
  14. key — the most important part
  15. bass — low music
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. track — a song
  18. spell — letters
  19. game — a match
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. game — wild animals
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. clip — to cut

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