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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: rule · clip · pop · file · staff · land · chest · bass

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. clip — a video
  3. staff — employees
  4. pop — soda
  5. bass — low music
  6. clip — for paper
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. land — a country
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. pop — music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. rule — a law
  15. file — a document
  16. chest — a box
  17. file — a tool
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — a stick
  20. pop — to visit
  21. land — ground
  22. clip — to cut
  23. land — to come down
  24. file — a line of people

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