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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 124 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. clip — a video
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. march — the month
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cold — an illness
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. mouse — for a computer
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. clip — to cut
  17. march — the month
  18. clip — for paper
  19. march — music
  20. cold — not warm
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — size or range
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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