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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — rain
  4. spring — a coil
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. cold — an illness
  7. clip — a video
  8. march — the month
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. march — music
  11. spring — of water
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. spring — the season
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. march — the month
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. shower — to wash
  22. clip — for paper
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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