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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: charge · clip · march · file · calf · hand · lean · band

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. band — a music group
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. march — the month
  6. hand — in cards
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. lean — to bend
  9. clip — a video
  10. hand — help
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. file — a line of people
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. band — a ring
  15. charge — a price
  16. clip — for paper
  17. march — the month
  18. file — a tool
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. march — music
  21. clip — to cut
  22. charge — in control
  23. charge — electricity
  24. file — a document

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