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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. clip — a video
  3. drill — the tool
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. drill — a practice
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bear — the animal
  9. tube — a container
  10. cold — not warm
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bear — the animal
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. drill — army training
  18. bat — the animal
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. pitch — completely
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. tube — the underground
  24. clip — for paper

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