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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 120 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: clip · march · pop · cold · mark · drill · chip · perch

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mark — a trace
  4. march — the month
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. march — the month
  7. mark — a grade
  8. perch — the fish
  9. chip — to eat
  10. march — music
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. clip — to cut
  13. drill — the tool
  14. pop — soda
  15. chip — for betting
  16. pop — to visit
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. clip — for paper
  20. drill — a practice
  21. cold — not warm
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. drill — army training
  24. pop — 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