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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: rush · clip · march · wound · cap · game · staff · bay

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. staff — a stick
  3. game — a match
  4. march — music
  5. cap — a lid
  6. wound — an injury
  7. staff — employees
  8. cap — a hat
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. clip — to cut
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. march — the month
  14. clip — for paper
  15. march — the month
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. staff — employees
  19. game — wild animals
  20. clip — a video
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. cap — of ice
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. rush — hurry

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