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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. court — of law
  3. mate — to breed
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. branch — a division
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. mate — a partner
  9. court — of a king
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. court — for sport
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. cell — a phone
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rule — a law
  19. safe — a strongbox
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cold — an illness

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