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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. staff — employees
  3. cold — an illness
  4. staff — employees
  5. clip — for paper
  6. rule — government
  7. board — to get on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. cold — not warm
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. can — a tin
  13. fall — to drop
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. fall — the season
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. fall — to drop
  18. staff — a stick
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. rule — a law
  22. can — to be able to
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. board — a committee

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