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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: clip · rash · rock · saw · tear · last · plane · wake

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. clip — to cut
  5. clip — a video
  6. tear — from crying
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. last — final
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. tear — to rip
  13. saw — the tool
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wake — a trail
  16. clip — for paper
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. saw — the tool
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. rock — a stone
  23. plane — a tool
  24. rash — a series

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