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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: bowl · cell · track · chip · march · clip

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. clip — a video
  4. track — a song
  5. track — a path
  6. march — the month
  7. chip — to eat
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. march — the month
  10. chip — for betting
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. march — music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. clip — to cut
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cell — in biology

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