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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cap — a hat
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cap — of ice
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cap — a lid
  8. staff — employees
  9. wind — moving air
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. staff — employees
  14. clip — a video
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. wound — an injury
  19. staff — a stick
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. clip — for paper
  22. kid — child
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wound — an injury

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