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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: march · band · clip · tear · row · mate · wave · club

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. band — a music group
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — for paper
  5. mate — a friend
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. mate — a partner
  8. row — a line
  9. wave — of the sea
  10. club — a group
  11. mate — to breed
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. row — to paddle
  15. march — the month
  16. club — for dancing
  17. march — music
  18. tear — from crying
  19. clip — to cut
  20. march — the month
  21. band — a ring
  22. club — for golf
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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