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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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. band — a music group
  3. clip — for paper
  4. prune — to trim
  5. rush — hurry
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bat — the animal
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. band — a ring
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. rash — hasty
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. shower — rain
  17. rash — a series
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. mine — for digging
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. shower — to wash

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