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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 120 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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. march — music
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. clip — a video
  6. land — to come down
  7. tear — from crying
  8. clip — to cut
  9. saw — the tool
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. pop — to visit
  12. pop — music
  13. tear — from crying
  14. march — the month
  15. land — a country
  16. deal — to handle
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. land — ground
  20. pop — soda
  21. march — the month
  22. clip — for paper
  23. saw — the tool
  24. tear — to rip

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