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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: club · pound · clip · march · rest · bat

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. clip — to cut
  4. clip — for paper
  5. club — a group
  6. rest — what's left
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. clip — a video
  10. rest — what's left
  11. club — for golf
  12. march — the month
  13. club — for dancing
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. march — music
  17. pound — a weight
  18. rest — a break

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