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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — for paper
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. court — for sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bark — to shout
  11. pass — to spend time
  12. cold — not warm
  13. face — to point toward
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. face — part of the head
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. court — of a king
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. face — to confront
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. clip — a video
  24. court — of law

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