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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. chair — a leader
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. bore — to drill
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. bore — to tire
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. dip — to sink
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. key — for a lock
  16. key — in music
  17. wake — a trail
  18. clip — for paper
  19. key — the most important part
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. clip — a video

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