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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. I can't ________________ this cold.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. spell — letters
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — magic
  6. bat — the animal
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. rash — hasty
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. stand — to bear
  14. wake — a trail
  15. branch — a division
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. season — in sport
  18. season — of the year
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. stand — for spectators
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. clip — a video
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. rash — a series

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