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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: pop · march · fall · wind · present · clip · row · file

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. file — a tool
  4. file — a line of people
  5. wind — moving air
  6. pop — soda
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. clip — for paper
  9. fall — to drop
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. march — the month
  13. row — to paddle
  14. present — a gift
  15. fall — the season
  16. file — a document
  17. present — the time now
  18. pop — to visit
  19. pop — music
  20. row — a line
  21. march — music
  22. wind — moving air
  23. fall — to drop
  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