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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. object — to protest
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. band — a music group
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitch — completely
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. clip — a video
  14. kid — child
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — an illness
  17. object — an aim
  18. object — a thing
  19. band — a ring
  20. clip — to cut
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. cold — not warm
  24. prune — to trim

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