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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 116 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: scale · track · clip · tear · rush · cell · saw · dip

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. saw — the tool
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. track — a song
  5. clip — to cut
  6. tear — to rip
  7. clip — a video
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. dip — to sink
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. rush — hurry
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cell — a phone
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. scale — size or range
  17. track — a path
  18. clip — for paper
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. tear — from crying
  21. scale — in music
  22. cell — in biology
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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