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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: march · spell · toast · land · cold · sharp · root · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — not warm
  3. clip — to cut
  4. march — music
  5. land — a country
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. spell — magic
  8. march — the month
  9. root — the cause
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. spell — letters
  12. land — ground
  13. cold — an illness
  14. toast — bread
  15. clip — a video
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. land — to come down
  19. toast — the most admired
  20. sharp — clever
  21. root — of a word
  22. root — of a plant
  23. spell — a short time
  24. march — the month

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