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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. racket — a loud noise
  3. cold — an illness
  4. clip — for paper
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. pop — soda
  7. cold — not warm
  8. clip — a video
  9. race — humankind
  10. pop — to visit
  11. wound — an injury
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — the season
  14. race — the arms race
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. spring — a coil
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. pop — music
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. race — a contest
  24. wound — an injury

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