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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. straw — a straw man
  4. tear — from crying
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. fall — to drop
  7. ball — a great time
  8. ball — a dance
  9. tear — to rip
  10. fall — to drop
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rule — a law
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. fall — the season
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. cold — not warm
  20. clip — to cut
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. tear — from crying
  23. rule — government
  24. racket — for tennis

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