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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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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. clip — to cut
  3. fall — to drop
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. fall — the season
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wake — a trail
  10. swing — music
  11. clip — for paper
  12. fall — to drop
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. clip — a video
  19. swing — in golf
  20. cap — of ice
  21. swing — to play on
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cap — a hat

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