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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 was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. clip — a video
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. tube — the underground
  6. cap — a lid
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — the animal
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. clip — for paper
  13. cap — a hat
  14. clip — to cut
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cap — of ice
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. bark — to shout
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. tube — a container
  24. safe — a strongbox

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