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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. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. row — to paddle
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — ground
  6. clip — for paper
  7. land — a country
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. swing — in golf
  10. march — the month
  11. season — in sport
  12. swing — to play on
  13. cue — for pool
  14. clip — to cut
  15. swing — music
  16. clip — a video
  17. cue — a signal
  18. drill — the tool
  19. drill — a practice
  20. row — a line
  21. season — of the year
  22. drill — army training
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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