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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: clip · arm · file · wound · court · fall · march · drill

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — for paper
  3. fall — the season
  4. wound — an injury
  5. court — of a king
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. file — a line of people
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. fall — to drop
  13. drill — a practice
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. drill — army training
  16. wound — an injury
  17. drill — the tool
  18. clip — a video
  19. file — a document
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. fall — to drop
  22. march — the month
  23. file — a tool
  24. arm — a part of something

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