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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. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to sink
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. cell — a phone
  4. present — a gift
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. present — the time now
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — the arms race
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. net — in sport
  13. clip — a video
  14. net — after costs
  15. wind — moving air
  16. present — there
  17. cell — in biology
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wind — moving air
  23. clip — to cut
  24. net — for catching

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