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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. band — a music group
  5. rule — government
  6. hand — in cards
  7. cold — not warm
  8. clip — for paper
  9. hand — help
  10. clip — a video
  11. wake — a trail
  12. spring — of water
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. band — a ring
  17. rule — a law
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. cold — an illness
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. clip — to cut
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. spring — a coil

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