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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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Word bank
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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: tear · scale · last · cell · clip · rule

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. clip — a video
  4. cell — in biology
  5. rule — a law
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. scale — size or range
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. last — final
  11. last — to go on
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. last — finally
  14. cell — a phone
  15. rule — government
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — from crying
  18. scale — in music

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