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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. clip — a video
  3. march — the month
  4. game — a match
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. press — newspapers
  7. clip — for paper
  8. bark — to shout
  9. press — to push
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. ground — crushed
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — magic
  14. ground — a position
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. march — music
  17. cold — not warm
  18. clip — to cut
  19. spell — a short time
  20. press — a publisher
  21. game — wild animals
  22. spell — letters
  23. march — the month
  24. ground — the earth

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