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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. clip — a video
  4. game — a match
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. clip — to cut
  8. band — a music group
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. rock — a stone
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. band — a ring
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. branch — a division
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. ground — a position
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. ground — crushed
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. clip — for paper
  22. ground — the earth
  23. game — wild animals
  24. branch — of a tree

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