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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pass — to spend time
  3. staff — a stick
  4. clip — a video
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fine — all right
  7. shower — to wash
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. staff — employees
  10. shower — rain
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. fine — high quality
  17. clip — to cut
  18. pass — a permit
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. staff — employees
  21. clip — for paper
  22. sharp — clever
  23. pass — to succeed
  24. bat — the animal

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