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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 120 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. When will it ________________ you to start?
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. land — a country
  3. bass — the fish
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. clip — for paper
  7. clip — to cut
  8. land — ground
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. suit — clothes
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. suit — to fit
  13. clip — a video
  14. content — happy
  15. cap — of ice
  16. land — to come down
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bass — low music
  20. content — the amount
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cap — a hat
  23. suit — in cards
  24. pitcher — a jug

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