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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 116 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. last — final
  3. bound — certain
  4. cold — an illness
  5. chip — to eat
  6. clip — for paper
  7. last — finally
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. last — to go on
  10. clip — a video
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. deal — to handle
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cell — a phone
  16. chip — for betting
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cell — in biology
  20. bound — obliged
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bound — tied together
  24. cold — the Cold War

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