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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: tear · scale · last · cell · clip · rule · snap · season

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. season — of the year
  3. tear — from crying
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. tear — to rip
  6. last — finally
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. last — final
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. snap — to click
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. rule — a law
  13. clip — for paper
  14. scale — in music
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. cell — a phone
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. cell — in biology
  20. rule — government
  21. season — in sport
  22. tear — from crying
  23. scale — size or range
  24. last — to go on

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