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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. My mare is ________________ in color.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. pop — music
  6. fall — the season
  7. tear — to rip
  8. game — wild animals
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. game — a match
  12. fall — to drop
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. clip — to cut
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pop — to visit
  18. fall — to drop
  19. tear — from crying
  20. bay — a horse colour
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. stock — goods
  23. tear — from crying
  24. pop — soda

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