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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — gave birth
  2. track — a path
  3. cold — not warm
  4. race — a contest
  5. last — finally
  6. clip — a video
  7. bore — to tire
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bore — to drill
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. race — humankind
  12. vault — a safe
  13. last — final
  14. race — the arms race
  15. track — a song
  16. cold — an illness
  17. clip — to cut
  18. last — to go on
  19. track — to keep track
  20. spell — a short time
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. spell — letters
  24. spell — magic

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